Ball State’s swimming and diving teams took to the pool Saturday in a co-ed meet against Grand Valley State. The women were victorious, 197-103, and the men fell to the Lakers, 187.5-112.5.
The women, who improved to 3-2 Saturday, started the event with a win in the 200-medley relay with the team of senior Peighton Gilbert, junior Audrey Schank, sophomore Alex Bader and freshman Shelby Crist.
“We had a couple of ironmen and ironwomen at this meet,” head coach Jeremy Agnew said. “Apsara Sakbun had to do 200 free, 50 free and 100 free. Exceptional efforts all around.”
Sakbun said it is a good training habit for being able to compete in multiple events. She had an impressive finish today, placing first in the 50-yard free, 100-yard free and the 200-yard free relay. She also had a second-place finish in the 200m free.
“We’ve been training really hard,” Sakbun said. “ It was good to get after it because we haven’t had a meet in a while.”
Ball State Senior, Cassidy Blackwin competes in the Women's 1000 M Freestyle on Saturday. Nov. 2, 2019, at Lewellen Aquatic Center against Eastern Michigan. She would go on to place 2nd in the event. Lewellen Aquatic Center. Paul Kihn, DN
Other wins on the night for the women included a sweep of the top three in the 100 backstroke from Crist, Schank and senior Anne Vormohr. The women’s team also swept in the 200 fly, 200 back and 100 fly. Junior Caitlin Locante also took the win in the 1-meter dive and earned an NCAA zone cut along the way.
The men started off the meet in very similar fashion to how the women did last weekend against Eastern Michigan. This time, they came up three-tenths of a second short in the 200-medley relay.
Much like last time for the women, the men were unable to rebound from the loss. Freshman Jack Wolfred was the lone event winner on the night for the Cardinals, as he took the win in the 50 free with a time of 21.44.
Agnew said it is about building a winning culture, and he has faith the team is going in the right direction
“We’re trying to build a program and a culture,” Agnew said. “We’re just looking for guys who want to fight in a good way. They enjoy the battle, they enjoy the race, they want the challenge and they want to be eyeball to eyeball with the guy next to them.”
Both the men and women have some time to rest and prepare for the next meet, as neither team will be in the water again until Dec. 5 for the Miami invitational in Oxford, Ohio.
“We are going to give them some time to rest,” Agnew said. “Then, we are going to do a good mid-season check to see that we are where we want to be. We are hoping that by Miami we are going to be fresh and ready to go.”
Contact Matt Sharp with comments at mtsharp@bsu.edu or on Twitter at @sharpmatthew66.
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