Ribeiro Takes Bronze on Day 1 of MAC Championships

YPSILANTI, Mich. - - Led by a program record of 4:48.37 in the 500 freestyle by freshman Marcella Ribeiro, Ball State turned in a strong opening-day performance at the 2021 Mid-American Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championships.

In addition to being a program record, Ribeiro's time of 4:48.37 earned her third place in the day's longest individual event. With the bronze medal, Ribeiro became Ball States first swimming medalist since the 2014 MAC Championships.

"Marcella has raised everyone practice intensity," head coach J. Agnew said. "She is extremely competitive in practice on a daily basis and the rest of the team is feeding off the challenge. Her 200 free should be fun to watch Friday and she will play a big role on our 4x200 free relay at night. Her best event will likely be Saturday's mile, where she should be in the mix for the win."

Sophomore Apsara Sakbun also qualified for the championship heat in the day's shortest event, taking fifth overall in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.32. It was just off her career-best time of 23.10 set at last season's conference meet.

Junior Alexa McDonald also scored in the 50 free for Ball State, placing 15th overall in 23.68. In addition, she turned in the ninth-fastest individual time in program history in the prelims, clocking in at 23.55.

In the 200 IM, freshman Sophia Kuehn touched the wall in 2:03.53 to take over the second spot on Ball State's all-time list and place 14th overall at the meet.

"Sophia, Apsara, and Alexa came up huge for our team," Agnew said. "All three of them dropped big chunks of time off their entry and worked there way into the scoring heats tonight. I think they surprised a lot of people, but we've been fortunate to see the hard work they've put into practice to drop that kind of time!"

Rounding out Ball State's individual scorers on the day was senior Caitlin Locante who placed 16th in the one-meter diving competition with a finals score of 218.85.

The Cardinals also turned in a pair of strong efforts in the day's two relay events, led by the 200 freestyle relay which placed seventh in 1:34.46 with the ninth-best time in BSU's record books.

After the first six events, the Cardinals find themselves within three points of moving up to sixth in the team standings with 82 points.

Day two of the 2021 MAC Women's Swimming & Diving championships will feature action in the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 800 free relay, as well as the preliminary round of 3-meter diving.

Team Standings After 6 Events
1. Buffalo - 239
2. Akron - 235
3. Miami - 148
4. Ohio - 113
5. Eastern Michigan - 104
6. Toledo - 85
Bowling Green - 85
8. Ball State - 82

200 Freestyle Relay Championships
7th - Alexa McDonald (23.72), Alex Bader (23.41), Kayleigh Witt (23.86), Apsara Sakbun (23.47) - 1:34.46 / 24 points - 9th in program history

500 Freestyle Championships
3rd - Marcella Ribeiro - 4:48.37 / 16 points - program record

200 IM Championships
14th - Sophia Kuehn - 2:03.53 / 3 points - 2nd in program history

50 Freestyle Championships
5th - Apsara Sakbun - 23:32 / 14 points (23.23 in prelims)
15th - Alexa McDonald - 23.68 / 2 points (23.55 in prelims - 8th in program history)

1-Meter Diving Championships
16th - Caitlin Locante - 218.85 / 1 point

400 Medley Relay Championships
8th - Shelby Crist (56.33), Alex Bader (1:01.08), Phoebe Rensink (57.15), Apsara Sakbun (50.62) - 3:45.18 / 22 points

Thursday Morning Preliminary Rounds (swimmers not advancing to finals)

500 Freestyle Prelims
30th - Mary Kate Phillips - 5:08.73

200 IM Prelims
27th - Phoebe Rensink - 2:08.22
28th - Gracie Saulman - 2:08.36
29th - Laura Wright - 2:09.28
EXH - Cecilia Moore - 2:11.16

50 Freestyle Prelims
25th - Alex Bader - 23.96
27th - Kayleigh Witt - 24.04
35th - Audrey Schank - 24.72
41st - Cailin Merck - 29.46 (swam a 50 breaststroke)
42nd - Jenn Gillen - 30.23 (swam a 50 breaststroke)
EXH - Abbie McCarter - 24.72
EXH - Kya Pawli - 24.74
EXH - MaKayla Miller - 24.58
EXH - Elizabeth King - 24.24

1-Meter Diving Prelims
20th - Riley Bullock - 195.05
24th - Madison Gatzlaff - 187.00

Players Mentioned

Alex Bader

Riley Bullock

Shelby Crist

Madison Gatzlaff

Jenn Gillen

Elizabeth King

Sophia Kuehn

Caitlin Locante

Abbie McCarter

Alexa McDonald

Cailin Merck

MaKayla Miller

Cecilia Moore

Kya Pawli

Mary Kate Phillips

Phoebe Rensink

Marcella Ribeiro

Apsara Sakbun

Gracie Saulman

Audrey Schank

Kayleigh Witt

Laura Wright

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