The Ball State men's swimming and diving squad will take a shorttrip down I-69 Friday to compete in a double-dual meet againstIUPUI and St. Louis. The fun doesn't end then because the teamreturns to Muncie for a dual meet with Michigan State Saturdayafternoon
Coach Bob Thomas will rely on several underclassmen to performas they did last weekend against Miami, calling freshman AdamKonopka and sophomores Kurtis Leer, Jim Lullo and Ritchie Caudillhis "go-to guy right now -- our key individuals."
"We're still waiting for some of the other swimmers to step upin a more consistent manner, to show us what they've got," Thomassaid.
IUPUI has excellent divers, including last year's Indiana highschool state champion. Thomas considers IUPUI to probably have aneven better diving squad than Miami, who swept the Cardinals in theone-meter diving event last Saturday. However IUPUI lacks depth,something Thomas hopes to make up ground with.
St. Louis, Thomas said, probably has a stronger team than IUPUI,including John Stoneburner, who last week won the 1000 free and 200IM against Lindenwood. Thomas also said the Billikens also have astrong group of breaststrokers. Last week, St. Louis eased to a71-37 victory over Lindenwood and 98-15 over Rose Hulman.
Thomas said Friday's meet allows the Cardinals to present adifferent lineup than they normally would.
"Generally, going into a meet, you swim your best swimmers intheir best events," Thomas said. "But since so many are soversatile, this will be an opportunity to have them do one of theirevents that they normally don't get to swim."
Although Friday's meet should be a competitive one, MichiganState is a different story, Thomas said. The Spartans were defeatedlast week by Eastern Michigan, who is the top dog in theMid-American Conference, but they present a difficult challenge forthe Cardinals. Thomas said that swimming at home should be anadvantage. But looking at the match-ups for each race, he's notsure how many events the Cardinals will be able to win. As aresult, the team will rely on grabbing second- and third-placefinishes to put points on the board.
"They beat us the last couple of years," Thomas said of MSU. "Ithink they're better this year than they were last season. They'rea very strong team. Outside of the MAC, they're probably thetoughest team we'll face this year."
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