Going into this weekend's Mid-American Conference men's swimming and diving championships, the Ball State University coaches do not know if they like the format.
For the first time, the MAC will combine with the Sun Belt Conference for the conference championships.
"I'll wait until after the meet to decide if I like it," co-coach Bob Thomas said.
Thomas and co-coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said having two leagues at the conference championships, which begin today and go through Saturday at the Tracy Caulkins Aquatics Center in Nashville, Tenn., is a whole new experience.
Seibold-Caudill said the meet will be like large invitations or nationals. While she has not made up her mind about her view on the conferences competing together, she said there will be benefits of the merger.
"I think it's great," she said. "I think it gives us a whole different perspective about what championship swimming is all about."
While they said they are not sure how much they will like the new format, both Thomas and Seibold-Caudill said they think the added competition will make the swimmers faster. By adding faster swimmers, it will push the other competitors to reach the next level, they said.
Joining the MAC schools at the competition will be Western Kentucky University, the University of Denver, Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University, Florida Atlantic University and the University of Evansville.
In the collegeswimming.com Division I-Mid Major poll, Denver is ranked No. 4, Western Kentucky is ranked No. 5 and Missouri State is ranked No. 6.
"I think it's great," Thomas said. "It will add to the environment some of the individuals will benefit from the additional competition.
"I think our top teams stack up really well."
Though the teams will swim together in the same competitions, both conferences will be scored separately. Thus, there will be a champion from the MAC and the Sun Belt for the meet and each event.
The Cardinals enter the meet after an 0-3 regular season in MAC competition. However, Thomas said the record has not broke the team's confidence.
"Our guys are very excited," he said. "They're very confident."
The other MAC schools: the University at Buffalo, Eastern Michigan University and Miami University, are tough and will be difficult to beat, Seibold-Caudill said. The Ball State men, which are all non-scholarship athletes, will just have to focus on individual performances and adding them up to be competitive as a team, she said.
Thomas said he thinks people like Ryan Franklin, Tyler Dixon, Jacob Morris, Kyle Hembree, Ben Karwosi, Ben Battjes, David Linn and Caleb Bye will be competitive.
Last year Ball State finished the regular season 0-5 and finished fifth at the conference championship.
Though the team is not favored to win, Thomas said there is still the possibility for the Cardinals to make some noise at the conference championships.
"I would hope that anything is possible," he said.
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