A weekend of tough competition hurt the Cardinals as the Ball State University men's and women's swimming and diving teams lost to Mid-American Conference opponent Ohio University.
The men's team lost the meet 145-98, but co-coach Bob Thomas said the meet was closer than what the final score suggested.
"We knew coming into the meet that Ohio was a darn good team," Thomas said. "Overall it was a real good meet. We really battled through till the end and made it a good competition."
The Cardinals started the meet finishing in second place in the first two events. After those, the team rebounded by winning the next four events.
Freshman Ben Karwoski (1:44.69) started the attack by getting a win in the 200-yard freestyle. Teammates Mark Augustyn finished third and Adam Dale finished fifth in the same event.
Another freshman, Ben Battjes, took first in the next event. He swam the 50-yard freestyle in 21.99 seconds to beat two surging Ohio swimmers.
Senior Adam Konopka continued the streak by winning the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:57.79. Konopka also won the 200-yard backstroke, was a member of the 400-yard medley relay and was the high point scorer for the men's team.
The fourth win of the streak occurred when senior Zach Whitaker scored 289.35 overall points to beat two Ohio divers on the 1-meter diving board. Teammate David Linn also placed fourth in the same event and third overall on the 3-meter board.
"Zach had an awesome 1-meter event," co-coach Laura Seibold-Caudill said. "David was very consistent in both events, and it just didn't happen for him on the 1-meter today. For us it was just an off day, but it was a lot of determination that got them through."
The women's team also lost a highly competitive meet by a final score of 179-121. Overall, the team won four of the 16 events.
The first win came in the sixth event as freshman Emily Hurst touched-out two Ohio swimmers. She hit the wall at 1:07.18, 0.47 and 0.51 seconds faster than second and third.
Hurst also got the team's next win as she won the 200-yard breaststroke. Teammates Bekah Gingerich finished fourth and Michelle Braden finished sixth in the same event.
The last individual event winner for the Cardinals was Erin Johnson. She won the 100-yard butterfly with a final time of 58.96 seconds. The last event of the day was the 200-yard freestyle relay, which Kelly Johnson, Michelle Huang, Erika Paul and Brittany Sayler combined to win.
"The meet wasn't as close as I hoped it to be," Thomas said. "Overall, it wasn't one of our better meets. Ohio is one of the top teams in the MAC and we tried to do our best to stop them. I hate losing, but they're a better team, plain and simple."
The meet was the final home meet of the season for the Cardinals and the team used the meet as a way to honor the team's seniors. Thirteen seniors were honored before the men's and women's meets as they were escorted onto the pool deck by their parents and received flowers and balloons from their teammates and coaches.
"I was very pleased with our attendance today," Thomas said. "Overall we had a great dull meet. It was loud and exciting and the intensity factor was there throughout both meets."
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