The men's swimming and diving team hopes its second trip to Buffalo, N.Y., will be as successful as the first one.
The Cardinals defeated Buffalo in a dual meet in early November, but this time the Cardinals will compete in the Mid-American Conference Championship Thursday through Saturday.
Ball State enters the championship with a 4-1 record in conference dual meets. The only loss was at Eastern Michigan, 162-77.
"It gives our guys a lot of confidence going in," Thomas said of his team's MAC record. "Hopefully that will carry on through the championship."
Eastern Michigan has won the conference championship the last three years, and Thomas said it is the favorite to win again this year. The Cardinals finished sixth in the league championship last year and have never won the title in Thomas' 23-year coaching history. In 1992-1993 Ball State placed second, which marked Thomas' highest finish ever in the league championship.
Thomas said the Cardinals would finish in the top half of the league this year.
"It looks like anywhere from second to fifth place," he said. "The teams will be packed in there pretty close with Toledo and Miami up there, ourselves and then Ohio Sophomore diver Ryan Plantz has been out of the lineup since injuring his back after the Michigan State meet on Jan. 11 and will not compete in the championship," Thomas said. The team is 3-1 without Plantz in the rotation, but Thomas said there will be a void to fill during the three-day competition.
"It's a major loss," he said. "Ryan (Plantz) had the potential to score in the top eight in two events. That's going to hurt us."
"These setbacks happen to everyone, but you just have to make the most of it," Thomas said. "Hopefully someone will step up and do well."
Thomas said the top goal for his team is to improve from its sixth place finish last season.
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