Ball State women's swimming and diving will host Grand Valley State for a coed meet Saturday.
Grand Valley is a strong team in the division and is expected to offer close races Saturday. After a marginal win last year, head coach Kristy Patterson believes the energy from recent wins will have a positive outcome in this meet as well.
“Last week gave [the women] good confidence that the training is working,” Patterson said.
She is looking forward to seeing a continuation of the numerous time drops that have occurred already this season, as the Cardinals have already claimed victories individually and as a team overall in their last few meets.
At Toledo, Ball State swam 19 season-best times less than a month into the official season. Junior Audrey Mayer secured two of those, with a time of 2:00.85 in the 200 freestyle and a time of 2:14.39 in the 200 backstroke.
In diving, sophomore Rachel Bertram achieved a season best on the 3-meter with a score of 292.65, qualifying for a spot in the NCAA Diving Zones. Only a week later against Illinois State, Bertram took first with a season best on the 1-meter, scoring 288.90. This score earned Bertram the top third spot in school history for the 1-meter dive, behind Beth Clark (’97) and Madie Zirzow (’15).
Last week, the Cardinals hosted their first back-to-back meets of the season, taking away the win from both. Illinois State was expected to be a close meet, as it has been in the past.
“It was fun to coach and fun to watch," Patterson said. "It was also stressful to coach and stressful to watch.”
The heightened energy from the win flowed into the co-ed meet against Tiffin the following day, calling for a quick turnaround.
“It's a tough transition but it’s something we have to practice,” Patterson said.
The team uses opportunities like these to prepare for its mid-season invitational and season championship meets since both extend multiple days. Even so, Ball State still took thirteen top finishes against Tiffin.
Of these, freshman Audrey Schank and junior Liz Madison both won two of their individual events. Schank took first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.05 and 2:16.05 in the 200 IM. Madison took first in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:10.69 and 5:18.69 in the 500 freestyle.
The team’s resilience was closely captured over the weekend, but it is far from fully exposed.
As Ball State hopes to extend its two-meet win streak, it will compete against Grand Valley State at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lewellen Aquatic Center.
Contact Kami Kleefisch with comments at kckleefisch@bsu.edu.
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