Men’s Swim and Dive Post 22 Season Bests at MAC Championships

Photo by: Ball State University Creative Services

Men’s Swim and Dive Post 22 Season Bests at MAC Championships

March 01, 2018 | Men's Swimming and Diving

OXFORD, Ohio –The Ball State men's swimming and diving team has kicked off action at the Mid-American Championships. Competition began yesterday with the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. Today action continued with five more events. The Cardinals have 91 points through the first two days.

In yesterday's events, the Cardinals earned the sixth place spot in both relays. In the 200 medley relay, Ball State earned 26 points with a time of 1:33.13. Members of that relay included Spencer Ball, Zach Toman, Ben Andrew and Zach Reichle. The Cardinals earned another 26 points in the 800 freestyle relay after Banistre Lienhart, Drew Weeks, Logan Ackley and Davis Meyn posted a time of 6:50.34. Ball State rounded out day one with 52 points.

Today's preliminaries saw 21 out of Ball State's 22 swims with season bests. Fourteen of those 21 season bests marked personal bests for the Cardinals. Two of those personal bests came in the 500 freestyle. Davis Meyn had a personal best with a time of 4:40.08 in that event, placing 21^st. Ryan Jackowiak was the other Cardinals with a personal best in that event after touching the wall at 4:48.25. Spencer Ball also had a personal best in the 200 IM with a final time of 1:53.45. Ben Andrew, Zach Reichle and Adam Pongracz were Cardinals who posted a personal best in the 50 freestyle. Andrew posted a time of 20.85 in prelims to earn the 14^th place spot and a chance to compete in the finals tonight. Reichle had a time of 21.07 while Pongracz marked a time of 21.56.

In the evening portion of the day, Andrew competed in the finals for the 50 freestyle. He earned the 14^th spot with a final time of 20.85, same as his time in the prelims. The Cardinals were also able to earn points in the 200 freestyle relay on Thursday evening. The relay earned the fifth place spot thanks to the efforts of Reichle, Meyn, Lienhart and Andrew. They came together to post a time of 1:24.14.

"I am very pleased with the performance of the team after the first full day of events," head coach Bob Thomas said. "We are looking forward to the events tomorrow."

On the diving board, Sean Wolfe had a season best on the 1-meter. Wolfe had a score of 235.65, but earned 11^th in the finals with his season best score of 250.70. Gabe Dean also competed in the evening portion of the 1-meter dive. He posted a score of 211.35. The diving proved to be a huge asset to the team race as they outscored Evansville by one point.

"Our guys had a great day today," diving coach Nick Gayes said. "They were really composed and did a good job of sticking to our game plan. We switched one dive out for Sean and he went a season best climb into 11^th. We hope to ride the momentum into 3-meter tomorrow."

The MAC Championships continue all day tomorrow in Oxford, Ohio.

Scores through two days: