After 14 consecutive wins in the 100 and 200-yard breaststrokes, senior Bridgette Ruehl was asked to change things up.
Ball State head coach Kristy Castillo wanted to give Ruehl a “mental and physical” break from the events she’s dominated all season. So, she moved Ruehl to the individual medley.
The result was more of the same.
“Even in an event she doesn’t swim that often, she’s still able to get a win,” Castillo said.
Ruehl is taking advantage of her final opportunities to cement a legacy in the Ball State swim program she has come to love.
“I’m going to miss [college],” she said. “People strive for competition and there is really no experience like when you are in college … You don’t get that many opportunities when you are not with a college team to compete.”
After the season concludes, Ruehl plans to train for Olympic Trials with former Ball State women’s swim coach Laura Caudill. She matched the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifying time of 1:12.19 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
In eight Ball State meets this season, Ruehl has been a part of seven first-place relay finishes along with 15 individual victories.
Fourteen of her wins have come from the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events, where Ruehl is undefeated.
With just more than a month before the Mid-American Conference championship, an undefeated regular season is one of Ruehl’s goals for the remainder of the year.
“I want to maintain being undefeated,” Ruehl said while knocking on her wooden desk. “I want to follow up with how I did at [the MAC championship] last year, and I would like to do better than what I did last year at NCAA [championship].”
Ruehl took first in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke at last year’s MAC Championships, setting career-best and school record-breaking times in each.
Her experience in last year’s conference final boosted Ruehl’s confidence for the upcoming championships.
“If you believe you can do it … you can do it,” she said. “There is some really tough competition out there … but I believe in myself and I believe in my training.”
Ruehl’s training isn’t limited to improving her own times.
In practice, she serves not only as a leader sharing knowledge and experiences with teammates, but she often can be found providing comic relief.
“She works hard in practice all the time,” said junior Jordan VanWinkle. “She has such a positive attitude and she is so full of energy … she really lifts us up and helps us with our attitudes.”
Her role as a leader is one that Castillo has been grateful for, as well.
“It’s awesome for the younger swimmers to see someone in her position, because they are striving to want to do what she is doing one day also,” Castillo said. “For them to experience seeing someone go to the NCAA meet, seeing someone win a MAC championship, to see it look so effortless, and to see her do it with such grace …
“If you just looked at her, you wouldn’t even think that she is the swimmer that she is.”
Once Ruehl’s eligibility runs out, following the NCAA championship in March, she plans to move to Indianapolis and train for the Olympic Trials with former Ball State women’s swim coach Laura Caudill.
However, until this season is in the books, Ruehl still has unfinished business.
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