Ball State // Notre Dame-Michigan State Tri-Meet
The Ball State University swimming and diving team finished its regular season at a four-team event Saturday at Notre Dame and now shifts it focus to the Mid-American Conference Championships.
The women's team fell to Notre Dame (212-81), Michigan State (215-83) and Indiana State (146-144) on the day while the men dropped contests to Notre Dame (219-78) and Michigan State (228-70).
"I love that our team showed a lot of grit today," said head coach J. Agnew. "They're not afraid to race anybody and this will be beneficial for us going into the MAC Championships."
The day started with the 200 Medley Relay in which the women claimed fifth (1:44.73) and the men eighth (1:34.64). The Cardinals had a strong showing in the final event of the day, the 200 Free Relay, when Peighton Gilbert, Alex Bader, Apsara Sakbun and Anne Vormohr finished second (1:36.59). On the men's side, Owen Chaye, Duncan McLarty, Jack Wolfred and Ben Andrew also claimed second place (1:25.00).
Top finishers for BSU in the pool included Jared Holder who finished second in the 100 Back (51.50) and Alex Bader with a third-place finish in the 100 Breast (1:04.94).
On the diving boards, Caitlin Locante finished fifth on 3M (258.85) and fourth on 1M (268.00). Wyatt Blakewas the top finisher on the men's side placing fifth on 1M (254.20) and sixth on 3M (229.25).
The Cardinals will now prepare for the MAC Championships to complete the season and attempt to qualify for NCAA's. The women's championships will be hosted by Buffalo February 26-29 while the men will travel to Southern Illinois March 4-7.
Southern Illinois 122, Evansville 78
Team Results
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois swimming and diving program concluded its regular season with a conference sweep over Evansville on Saturday afternoon at Shea Natatorium. The Saluki women rolled the Aces 175-63, while the men's team came out on top, 122-78.
Southern won 23 out of 24 events and added nine runner-up finishes in the Senior Day meet. Six Salukis earned two individual event wins. SIU's 21 seniors were recognized during the course of the meet and combined for 14 of the 23 victories.
"I was happy with how we raced after competing yesterday against Missouri. It was fun to honor our seniors with a good effort," head coach Geoff Hanson expressed. "We expected our top individuals to perform well and they did, but it was fun to see our depth, too. We have individuals capable of winning in every event, but we also rely on our depth to get those second, third and fourth-place points."
The SIU men's team capped its regular season with 10 victories in 11 events versus the Aces.
Adam Cernek and Zheng Yang Yeap led SIU with a combined four individual event victories. Cernek elevated his win total to 15 on the season with firsts in the 100-back (49.99) and 200-IM (1:52.00). Yeap grabbed wins in the 100- and 200-free with times of 46.75 and 1:41.42. It was third time he won the two events in the same meet this season.
Four SIU seniors earned individual victories. Kevin Kluge came from behind to win the 1000-free with a time of 9:46.16. Tamas Hajtman swam a winning time of 50.53 in the 100-fly and Jimmy Dooley was first in the 100-breast (58.02). Matt Ciezczak grabbed a first-place finish in the 50-free for his first-career collegiate win. Ciezczak helped SIU to a pair of relay victories as well.
The quartet of Cernek, Dooley, Hajtman and Ciezczak swam a winning time of 1:32.79 in the 200-medley relay. The team of Hajtman, Yeap, Ciezczak and Kluge claimed first in the 200-free relay (1:25.05).
Swimmers Sam Flessner, Chris Phillips and Max Ransom were other SIU standouts. Flessner turned in a second place performance in the 500-free (4:47.39). Phillips placed third in the 100-free (49.01) and 200-IM (1:59.05), while Ransom was third in the 100-fly (53.37) and 1000-free (10:04.57).
On back-to-back meets…
"It's another challenge that we will again face when we get to our conference meets. The conference championships are seven sessions, which is a lot of racing, so going back-to-back this weekend was good preparation."
On seniors success…
"It was great to see. I don't think Matt Ciezczak has won the 50-free in a meet in his college career. It was cool to see someone like that having success and improving all the way up to the very end of his career. It's great for our senior class to feel like they're leaving the program better than they found it."
NEXT UP
With the conclusion of the regular season, Southern will next compete in their conference championship meets. The Saluki women take part in the MVC Championships from Feb. 19-22 in Columbia, Mo. The SIU men will host the men's MAC Championships from Mar. 4-7 at Shea Natatorium.
