Women's Swimming Drops Hard-Fought Battle At Miami

Friday, February 12

Oxford, OH

5 p.m.

Ball State University

137

155

Miami

February 12, 2021 | Women's Swimming and Diving

Complete Results

OXFORD, Ohio - - In a hard-fought battle at Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center, the Ball State women's swimming & diving team gave Miami all it could handle in a 155-137 setback Friday night.

Thanks to seven individual wins over the first 14 events, the Cardinals (3-1) were in position to hand the RedHawks (3-0) their first dual meet loss of the season. Unfortunately, the hosts were able to edge out Ball State's swimmers in the final two events to secure the win.

"After a month off of competition the team was definitely ready for a battle today," head coach J. Agnew said. "I was really impressed with the fight and determination I saw from our squad today. We battled a tough Miami team down to the wire. I am looking forward to meeting up with them again at the MAC Championships."

One of the biggest stories of the night was senior diver Caitlin Locante, who followed her school-record performance from last time out with another stellar performance on the boards to help the Cardinals keep the meet close by sweeping both diving events.

"Senior diver Caitlin Locante was phenomenal today, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards," Agnew said. "She also achieved an NCAA Zone Diving "A" cut on the 1-meter board to qualify for the Zone meet March 7-9."

Locante's score of 296.25 on the 1-meter board was her best of her career, pushed her past the "A" cut mark of 295.00 and was the third-best individual effort in program history.

She also solidly won the 3-meter competition Friday with a score of 314.25 points, which is just shy of her program-record and NCAA Zone Diving "B" cut mark of 323.625 set versus UIndy (Jan. 16).

"It was also exciting to see us pick up wins from five different athletes on the swimming side," Agnew added. "I was really impressed with Alex Bader's tremendous effort in the 100 breaststroke."

Junior Alex Bader's effort, a time of 1:02.91 to win the 100 breaststroke by over two seconds and fall just shy of her career-best time of 1:02.66 which ranks third in program history.

Other top efforts in the pool included junior Katie Walker and freshman Mary Kate Phillips going 1-2 in the 1000 freestyle, clocking in at 10:32.52 and 10:42.55, respectively.

Senior Audrey Schank and sophomore Shelby Crist turned in another 1-2 finish in the 100 backstroke. The pair were separated by just 0.11 of a second, with Schank finishing with a time of 59.01 and Crist at 59.12.

Freshman Sophia Kuehn made it a sweep of the backstroke, winning the 200 back with a time of 2:06.81. In addition, freshman Laura Wright clocked in at 2:20.01 in the 200 breaststroke to help the Cardinals sweep that event.

"This meet and tomorrow will provide us with a great mid-season progress report," Agnew concluded. "We will find a few details to focus on for each athlete as we push forward to the MAC Championship meet in April."

Ball State women's swimming is back in action tomorrow at the Lewellen Aquatic Center at noon against Xavier.

Ball State Event Winners at Miami:
Katie Walker (Jr.) - 1000 Freestyle (10:32.52)
Audrey Schank (Sr.) - 100 Backstroke (59.01)
Alex Bader (Jr.) - 100 Breaststroke (1:02.91)
Sophia Kuehn (Fr.) - 200 Backstroke (2:06.81)
Laura Wright (Fr.) - 200 Breaststroke (2:20.01)
Caitlin Locante (Sr.) - 1-Meter Diving (296.25*) / 3-Meter Diving (314.25)

* -NCAA Zone Diving "A" Cut