Agnew Ready to Lead Cardinals Forward Starting Saturday at Purdue

Saturday, October 19

West Lafayette, IN

12:00 PM

Ball State University

Indiana Intercollegiate

Agnew Ready to Lead Cardinals Forward Starting Saturday at Purdue

October 18, 2019 | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

MUNCIE, Ind. – With one season completed as head coach of the Ball State University swimming and diving team, J. Agnew is ready to take the program to new heights in year two. The first step comes Saturday when the Cardinals open their season at the Indiana Intercollegiates Meet, hosted by Purdue University.

On the day before the 2019-20 campaign begins, Agnew and diving coach Nick Gayes sat down to give their thoughts on the team and provided an outlook for the season.

Agnew on having one season under his belt and building a championship culture:

"It's nice to have that rookie year under your belt. I've learned a lot about the process and gotten to know our student-athletes at a much better level. We want to build a championship program. But before you do that, you have to build a championship culture. That is what we are focusing on every day. We ask ourselves, 'what can we do to get better today? How can we be better teammates, and how can we improve ourselves in and out of the water?' We're just focused on that culture first and foremost."

Agnew on his captains for 2019 – Rachel Bertram, Peighton Gilbert, Logan Ackley and Ben Andrew:

"Our captains have really taken on the mantle of leadership and they are our go-to people. Whether it's Rachel on the diving boards, or our two school-record holders returning in Logan Ackley and Ben Andrew. We will also count on Peighton Gilbert as our top returning sprinter, but she's a lot more than just that. It all starts with the leadership up top."

Agnew on who he believes will make big improvements from last season:

"Davis Meyn and Drew Weeks are coming in in a different position than last year. They're ready to go and will make an impact. You'll see that early on this season, but we're even more excited to see what they can do at the MAC Championships at the end of the year. On the women's side, we've got a fleet of breaststrokers that are making moves that will be fun to watch. Cailin Merck had a great offseason; she was on fire this summer."

Agnew on his first freshman class:

"We will need our freshmen to make an impact this year, and we are confident they will. It will be interesting to see how their development evolves. We have a deep class and I have positive things to say about all of them, but off the top, Shelby Crist is one who has shown a lot of speed early on and will surprise a lot of people. Apsara Sakbun is another one who has been lighting it up this fall. On the men's side, we have a lot of young blood. Jared Holder is a tremendous backstroker, Jack Wolfred will be counted on heavily in the sprint events, and then Aiden Maurer is someone who can swim anything from 100 to a mile."

Gayes on which divers to look for other than three-time NCAA Zone Qualifier Rachel Bertram:

"Obviously it all starts with Rachel, but Caitlin Locante is going to have a breakout year and you'll see big things from her. Hunter Ongay is also coming back as the defending MAC Freshman of the Year, and Wyatt Blake is coming in to be right in the ballgame. Wyatt is going to surprise some people. I think he's even better than we thought, and we already thought he was really good. We will do some damage again this year."

Gayes on the outlook for this year's divers:

"The diving squad is a little smaller than it has been in previous years, but one of the things I've noticed as an advantage of that is the chemistry is really good. I really like this group and how they work together. Our motto for the year for the divers is "Finish Strong" and that is a daily thing for us. Whether it's an individual dive, workout or at a meet, it's one of the things we've been preaching. They are holding each other accountable right now which is what you want."

Agnew's outlook for the divers and giving them more scoring help this year:

"Nick does a great job with our divers and we're excited about what they bring to the table every year. But we need to have more balance in our scoring. Diving is only two events out of all the championship events, so we have to get better in the pool. That said, we want to see the whole team rise together. Our divers aren't resting and still want to get better and dominate the conference. We expect their contribution will continue this year."

Agnew's goals for 2019-20 season:

"We want to beat some people this year. We've been at the bottom of the MAC for too long and there's no reason for it. Here at Ball State we've got everything we need. We have great administration, I love my staff, we're all working really hard and so our goal is to move up."

Gayes on the team's 2019-20 goals:

"Our expectation is to go out there and perform to the best of our ability. All we can do is control ourselves, but our goal is to continue to elevate the program. We want to score more points at the championships and continue on to be one of the top programs in the conference and the zone. We're on track to do that and we've got a good mix of experience and young talent."

Gayes on the program chasing the rest of the conference:

"The challenge of it is half the fun. You don't want to be chasing forever, but it is fun to chase. It's fun to have goals and teams to go after, and things to set your sights on. After last year's showing at the MAC Championships, nobody is sleeping on us anymore. Nobody assumes that Ball State will just automatically be at the bottom. It's nice to see that respect to start coming in, but it will be even nicer when those other teams are the ones chasing us."

Agnew on the program taking its next step:

"The great thing about swimming and diving is you have times and scores. So knowing we are closing that gap is a great confidence builder, even when you end up finishing last like we did too often last year. We aren't celebrating last season like it was some great victory. But we're excited about the fact that we got a lot better, but I think we did make a move that wasn't seen in the final standings. Everybody at the MAC Championships knew that Ball State was there to play. But we need to take another step forward this year. We feel we're in a great position to move up the rankings and we expect it to start now."

The Cardinals begin that forward progression Saturday at noon. Live swimming results are available via sidearmstats.com/purdue/swimming/index.htm while live diving scores will be on DiveMeets.com. A list of competing teams and the order of events is below.

Field of Teams (12 Indiana universities; 21 total teams)
Anderson
Ball State
Bethel
DePauw
Franklin
Manchester
Purdue
Rose-Hulman
Valparaiso
Butler (Women)
Indiana Wesleyan (Women)
Wabash (Men)

Order of Events (12)
200 Medley Relay
200 Free
50 Free
100 IM
100 Fly
100 Free
100 Back
500 Free (Limited to 3 entries per team)
100 Breast
200 Free Relay
1-Meter & 3-Meter Diving