Men's S&D Finishes Fourth At EMU Invite

Friday, December 3

Ypsilanti, MI

3:30 pm/10 am/6 pm

Ball State University

Eastern Michigan Invitational

December 03, 2010 | Men's Swimming and Diving

By: Ball State Athletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. - - Thanks to 19 top 10 efforts on the second day of competition, the Ball State men's swimming & diving team finished the two-day EMU Invitational with 509 points to place fourth among the nine-team field at Eastern Michigan's Jones Natatorium.

Four-time defending Mid-American Conference champions and invitational host Eastern Michigan won the meet with 1171.5 points, followed by Ashland (743), Michigan State (725), BSU, IUPUI (221), Waterloo (129), Oakland (44.5), Wayne State (42) and Findlay (7).

Junior Chris Krupa turned in the Cardinals' best individual effort in Saturday's morning session, clocking a time of 50.74 to place sixth in the 100 butterfly. In the night session, Krupa went on to add a 10th-place swim of 1:58.29 in the 200 IM.

Krupa was also a member of the fifth-place 400 medley relay (3:31.29) and the sixth place 200 medley relay (1:35.82) and 200 freestyle relay (1:28.17).

Also scoring a pair of individual top 10 efforts for the Cardinals was sophomore Michael Weber, who captured seventh in the 100 backstroke (53.08) and ninth in the 200 IM (1:58.25). Weber also swam leadoff for the fifth-place 400 medley relay and the sixth-place 200 medley relay.

Junior Casey Schroeder turned in the top individual performance in Saturday's evening session, taking home sixth place in the 50 freestyle with a final wall touch of 21.63. Schroeder also swam anchor for both medley relays and the 200 freestyle relay.

Also scoring individual top 10 efforts for Ball State were; Andrew Hostetler (10th in the 400 IM - 4:19.18), Michael Oaks (9th in the 200 freestyle - 1:46.91), Gavin McNeeley (9th in the 100 breaststroke - 59.83), Joseph Morris (10th in the 100 breaststroke - 1:00.00), Jeremy Whited (9th in one-meter diving - 207.20) and Chris Behrle (10th in three-meter diving - 191.20).

The Ball State men's swimming & diving team returns to action Dec. 11, when it closes the 2010 portion of its 2010-11 schedule with a 2 p.m. swim at Michigan State.

DAY 1 RECAP

YPSILANTI, Mich. - - The Ball State men's swimming & diving team ended the first day of competition at the EMU Invitational with 139 points to place fourth out of the seven teams at the two-day event hosted by Eastern Michigan.

The host Eagles lead the meet with 297 points, followed by Michigan State (185), Ashland (142), BSU, IUPUI (40), Waterloo (12) and Findlay (0).

Senior Mark Golden started the meet strong for the Cardinals, posting an eighth-place time of 16:46.76 in the 1650 freestyle, the meet's longest event. Sophomore Nicholas Stevens was not far behind, placing ninth with a time of 17:13.70, while senior Ryan Gordyan took home 13th (17:57.72)

Sophomore Michael Weber led three scoring Cardinals in the 200 backstroke, with a 12th-place effort of 1:55.65.

Three Cardinals also picked up points in the 100 freestyle, led by the ninth-place time of 47.25 turned in by junior Casey Schroeder.

Another trio of BSU swimmers scored in the 200 breaststroke, led by the 10h-place effort turned in by junior Gavin McNeeley at 2:11.15.

In the final individual event of the day, junior Chris Krupa gave the Cardinals their best individual finish with a sixth-place time of 1:54.19 in the 200 butterfly.

The Cardinals ended the opening day's swimming events with Krupa, Weber, McNeeley and Schroeder placing sixth in the 400 freestyle relay with a final wall touch of 3:09.73.

Men's one-meter diving was also held on the opening day, but results for the event are not currently available.

Action in the 2010 EMU Invitational continues at 10 a.m. Saturday morning at the Jones Natatorium.

MEET PREVIEW

MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State men's swimming & diving team returns to action Friday, when it travels Ypsilanti, Mich., for the 2010 EMU Invitational hosted by Eastern Michigan. Action is slated for 3:30 p.m. and will pick back up Saturday at 10 a.m.

The 10-team meet features some of the toughest competition to date for the Cardinals in Big Ten opponents Michigan and Michigan State, as well as league foes Toledo, Bowling Green and host Eastern Michigan. Also competing in the meet are Wayne State, Findlay, IUPUI and Waterloo.

Ball State enters the meet with a 1-2 (1-1 MAC) record, and have placed first or second in all three invitational meets they have competed in so far this season.

In the team's first appearance at the Jones Natatorium this season (Oct. 30), the Cardinals suffered a 170-119 setback to the Eagles despite scoring wins in six of 16 events at the meet.

Junior Gavin McNeeley provided one of the team's highlights in the meet, winning the 100 breaststroke with a swim of 58.81, which currently ranks fourth among all MAC swimmers.

Fellow junior Chris Krupa also had a strong meet, posting wins in the 100 butterfly (50.92) and the 200 breaststroke (2:11.50), with the times ranking sixth and 11th in the league, respectively.

Below is a complete list of where BSU's swimmers & divers currently rank in the league.

50 Freestyle
15th - Casey Schroeder (21.58)
19th - Michael Weber (21.72)

100 Freestyle
15th - Casey Schroeder (47.88)

1000 Freestyle
19th - Mark Golden (10:16.26)

1650 Freestyle
6th - Mark Golden (17:09.46)
8th - Nicholas Stevens (17:31.08)
9th - Ryan Gordyan (18:02.07)

100 Backstroke
12th - Michael Weber (52.84)

200 Backstroke
16th - Michael Weber (1:56.55)

100 Breaststroke
4th - Gavin McNeeley (58.81)
14th - Joseph Morris (1:00.28)
15th - David Wood (1:00.56)

200 Breaststroke
10th - Gavin McNeeley (2:11.46)
11th - Chris Krupa (2:11.50)
19th - David Wood (2:16.03)

100 Butterfly
6th - Chris Krupa (50.92)

200 Butterfly
8th - Chris Krupa (1:55.87)

200 Individual Medley
8th - Chris Krupa (1:56.26)
15th - Michael Weber (1:58.03)