Women’s Swimming & Diving Sweeps MAC Weekly Awards
February 17, 2021 | Women's Swimming and Diving
CLEVELAND, Ohio - - After another strong week of competition, the Ball State women's swimming & diving program learned it has swept the Mid-American Conference weekly awards.
For the second time this season, senior diver Caitlin Locante has been named the MAC Women's Diver of the Week. In addition, junior Alex Bader earned her first career MAC Women's Swimmer of the Week honor.
Locante followed her school-record performance vs. UIndy (Jan. 16), which helped secure her first MAC Diver of the Week honor this season, with another stellar performance at Miami (Feb. 12). She picked up wins on both the 1M & 3M boards to help the Cardinals nearly upset the RedHawks in its home pool.
Locante's score of 296.25 on the 1-meter board was the best of her career, pushed her past the NCAA Zone Diving "A" cut mark of 295.00 and was the third-best individual effort in program history. She also solidly won the 3-meter competition with a score of 314.25 points, which was just shy of her program-record and NCAA Zone Diving "B" cut mark of 323.625 set versus UIndy.
In an impressive weekend of her own, Bader had a hand in a pair of Lewellen Aquatic Center records, picked up a pair of individual event wins and earned a pair of relay victories. She started off her week with a dominating performance in the 100 breaststroke Friday at Miami, winning the event by over two seconds with a time of 1:02.91. The effort helped the Cardinals battle the RedHawks to the wire.
She also had the fastest 100 breaststroke leg in the 400 medley relay, finishing in 1:02.57 to give the Cardinals nearly a second advantage heading into the third leg. She also placed fourth in a non-traditional swim in the 100 butterfly (58.19) and swam anchor for the second-place 400 freestyle relay.
Bader capped the week with an even better performance in Saturday's home win over Xavier, starting with helping guide the 200 medley relay to a pool record time of 1:42.24, which is also the sixth-fastest time in program history. The previous record was 1:43.02.
In her first individual effort of the day, she followed with her second pool record, this time clocking in at 1:01.92 in the 100 breaststroke to shatter the previous mark of 1:03.04 with the second-fastest individual time in program history. It's also the third-fastest swim in the event in the MAC so far this season and ranks 88th nationally.
She nearly had her third pool record moments later, touching the wall in 2:18.33 in the 200 breaststroke. However, she was out-touched by teammate Laura Wright who broke the record (2:18.57) and climbed to third in program history at 2:17.50. Bader finished a solid weekend by swimming the third leg for the 200 freestyle relay which closed the Xavier meet with a winning time of 1:35.27.
So far this season, the Ball State women's squad has taken home three swimmer of the week honors and two diver of the week awards. Sophomore Apsara Sakbun earned swimmer of the week on Nov. 11, while freshman Marcella Ribeiro was named the swimmer of the week on Jan. 20.
For the second time this season, senior diver Caitlin Locante has been named the MAC Women's Diver of the Week. In addition, junior Alex Bader earned her first career MAC Women's Swimmer of the Week honor.
Locante followed her school-record performance vs. UIndy (Jan. 16), which helped secure her first MAC Diver of the Week honor this season, with another stellar performance at Miami (Feb. 12). She picked up wins on both the 1M & 3M boards to help the Cardinals nearly upset the RedHawks in its home pool.
Locante's score of 296.25 on the 1-meter board was the best of her career, pushed her past the NCAA Zone Diving "A" cut mark of 295.00 and was the third-best individual effort in program history. She also solidly won the 3-meter competition with a score of 314.25 points, which was just shy of her program-record and NCAA Zone Diving "B" cut mark of 323.625 set versus UIndy.
In an impressive weekend of her own, Bader had a hand in a pair of Lewellen Aquatic Center records, picked up a pair of individual event wins and earned a pair of relay victories. She started off her week with a dominating performance in the 100 breaststroke Friday at Miami, winning the event by over two seconds with a time of 1:02.91. The effort helped the Cardinals battle the RedHawks to the wire.
She also had the fastest 100 breaststroke leg in the 400 medley relay, finishing in 1:02.57 to give the Cardinals nearly a second advantage heading into the third leg. She also placed fourth in a non-traditional swim in the 100 butterfly (58.19) and swam anchor for the second-place 400 freestyle relay.
Bader capped the week with an even better performance in Saturday's home win over Xavier, starting with helping guide the 200 medley relay to a pool record time of 1:42.24, which is also the sixth-fastest time in program history. The previous record was 1:43.02.
In her first individual effort of the day, she followed with her second pool record, this time clocking in at 1:01.92 in the 100 breaststroke to shatter the previous mark of 1:03.04 with the second-fastest individual time in program history. It's also the third-fastest swim in the event in the MAC so far this season and ranks 88th nationally.
She nearly had her third pool record moments later, touching the wall in 2:18.33 in the 200 breaststroke. However, she was out-touched by teammate Laura Wright who broke the record (2:18.57) and climbed to third in program history at 2:17.50. Bader finished a solid weekend by swimming the third leg for the 200 freestyle relay which closed the Xavier meet with a winning time of 1:35.27.
So far this season, the Ball State women's squad has taken home three swimmer of the week honors and two diver of the week awards. Sophomore Apsara Sakbun earned swimmer of the week on Nov. 11, while freshman Marcella Ribeiro was named the swimmer of the week on Jan. 20.
Players Mentioned
Breast
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
Diving
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
Free
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
Free, Back
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
Breast
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