The chance for the Ball State University women's swimming and diving team to beat Michigan State University on Saturday came down to the last two events.
Co-coach Bob Thomas had been keeping tabs on his team and the Michigan State team, and he knew that he had to make some lineup changes to stay competitive until the end of the meet.
"When we got down to the end, Addison [Del Rio] thought she'd do better on the relay, so I said OK," Thomas said. "We needed someone to win [the 200 yard individual medley] so I went to [Brittany] Sayler and it was a no-brainer at that point. To win, we needed to go 1-3-4 in the IM, so I pulled Brinkoetter out, put [Megan] Ploetz in and put Brinkoetter in the [400-yard freestyle] relay fresh."
The switch almost worked out, Sayler won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:08.72. However, two Michigan State swimmers then placed second and third in front of Emily Hurst and Megan Ploetz for the Cardinals. So in order to win, tie or lose, it would come down to the final event - the 400-yard freestyle relay.
"Going into the last relay, we needed to go 1-2 to win," Thomas said. "I already had it figured out that they were going to be tough to beat."
The team of Erika Paul, Del Rio, Kelly Johnson and Michelle Haung won the event with a final time of 3:32.19, and it came down to the Ball State "B" team. The team of Sarah Kehe, Lauren Harger, Chelsea Anderson and Brinkoetter finished third with a time of 3:37.71 and gave the women's team the tie with both squads earning 150 points apiece.
"The girls swam phenomenal. They were just right on the edge of winning the meet," co-coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said. "I would rather tie than lose."
The men's team lost to the Spartans by a final score of 196-137.
"The men's team did fine," Seibold-Caudill said. "A majority of our swimmers are freshmen, so once they get more experience they will be ready to compete with the bigger schools."
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