Junior Lauren Harger stood by the door of the Lewellen Aquatic Center, bundled up in her green winter coat and waiting to leave. Her coach, Laura Seibold-Caudill, then turned and scolded her.
"What are you wearing those colors for?" Seibold-Caudill said. "It's Michigan State colors."
Seibold-Caudill, a 1976 Michigan State University graduate and former Spartan diver, said Saturday's meet is really important to her.
"I'd love nothing more than to beat them, that's for sure," she said.
While she competed at Michigan State, Seibold-Caudill was a three time All-American. Also, both of her parents swam for the Spartans.
While Seibold-Caudill experienced success in college, she had some success as a coach against Michigan State as a coach. Last season the Ball State women tied Michigan State at 150. The men's team lost its meet 196 to 137 last year.
"Obviously we could have taken a win a lot easier but a tie was pretty amazing," Seibold-Caudill said. "I thought we swam very, very well and this year I think our girls and guys are very motivated."
The Cardinals are capable of competing against the Spartans, she said.
"We're just going to have to really put our best foot forward," she said.
Ball State is coming off of two consecutive wins, as both teams won the House of Champions Invitational last week and the Doug Coers Invitational three weeks ago.
However, both of the most recent competitions were invitationals, which count all of the athletes in the scoring.
The team scoring of invitationals reward teams with depth, like Ball State, sophomore Ben Karwoski said.
The dual meet scoring the teams will use Saturday could be a disadvantage, Karwoski said.
This meet will also be tough because of Michigan State's talent, he said. Competing against a Big Ten opponent will be a challenge the team is ready for, he said.
Harger said Ball State is ready for the challenge, which begins at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Lewellen Aquatic Center.
"We're really excited for this weekend and we're ready to go," Harger said.
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