The Ball State University women's swimming and diving team suffered a Mid-American Conference loss this weekend to the University of Toledo 163-136.
"Overall it was a frustrating meet with how close the outcome was," co-coach Bob Thomas said. "Toledo's team is similar to ours in ability and they won a couple extra events and that made the difference. Not everyone was ready for the meet and you're not going to beat a team like Toledo with 12 swimmers."
The team took a full lineup of 19 swimmers to the meet, but 12 of those swam to season-best times. Those 12 were the people that scored most of the points for the team.
"I saw the meet as a learning experience for the team," graduate assistant coach Erik Wiken said. "The team found some areas they need to work on. At this point in the season the team is ready physically, but they are just beaten down mentally and swimming is an internal and mentally tough sport."
After the Cardinals dropped the first relay, Megan Patterson swam the 1000-yard freestyle and got the first individual win of the meet.
Also earning wins during the meet were Brittany Sayler in the 100-yard backstroke and Mary Brinkoetter in the 200-yard backstroke.
"Sayler really came through for us when we needed her to the 100 back," Thomas said. "She has turned into our go-to gal in that event. And Mary was strong for us all day. She was our overall high point scorer for the meet."
Despite the loss, both Thomas and Wiken said they felt like the team is still on track to finish off the season successfully and is preparing well for the MAC tournament.
"This was just another part of the season," Wiken said. "This was a chance for us to get ready for MAC and it showed the team that they can swim well in these types of pressure situations. We might have lost, but there were a lot of positives that came out of this meet for us."
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