Swimming & Diving Hosts UIC Saturday to Open 2024-25 Campaign

Saturday, October 12

Muncie, IN

1 p.m.

Ball State University

UIC

Swimming & Diving Hosts UIC Saturday to Open 2024-25 Campaign

October 11, 2024 | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

MUNICE, Ind. – The Ball State men's and women's swimming & diving teams are just over a day away from kicking off their 2024-25 campaign.

Live Results: Meet Mobile
Meet Program: 200 Medley Relay, 1,000 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, 50 Freestyle, Diving M/W, 100 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke, 500 Freestyle, Diving M/W, 200 IM, 400 Freestyle Relay

This season marks an exciting beginning for the men's team, who will be joining six familiar foes to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. MVC will sponsor men's swimming & diving for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Other teams in the conference are Evansville, UIC, Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Valparaiso, and Miami University.

"The great thing is the level of competition. It just establishes the conference," Ball State head coach J. Agnew expressed.

Agnew enters his sixth year as head coach for the Cardinals, and has his sights set on rallying his men to dethrone Miami of their top spot, one they have held four consecutive years in the Mid-American Conference.

"Our guys are scratching. they're clawing," Agnew stated. "We've been improving every year, so we keep closing the gap. We have a lot of depth and a lot of strength. One to 20, I think we're going to be pretty tough."

Scratching and clawing to make a statement this year is junior Jacob Siewers, who enters this season after breaking multiple program records at the 2024 MAC Championships_. That includes an opening 200 free split of 1:37.05 to help Malcolm Slater, Michael Mitsynskyy and Owen Chaye finish the 800 freestyle relay with a program record-breaking time of 6:36.72.

Siewers also helped the Cardinals set program records in the 200 freestyle relay (1:18.88) and 400 freestyle relays alongside Chaye, Joey Garberick and Ethan Pheifer.

"I'm doing the little things every day, but in applying those things, the biggest is just confidence. Having the confidence to go out there and race my race and do what I know how to do," Siewers explained. "Trusting my training is really huge for me, because the more confident I am in my race strategy, the better I can apply it."

Still competing in the MAC, the women's swimming & diving team are eager and ready for Saturday.

"[The women] are fired up and in a great place starting off. This will be a great competition," coach Agnew stated.

On top of being named First-Team All-MAC last season, Callie Tuma claimed Ball State's first individual league title since 2021 after placing first in the 1650 freestyle at the 2024 MAC Championships. Tuma, a junior, knows what she needs to do to continue her success this season.

"There's an expectation of what I can bring to the team, and the season is so long, so I've just got to be consistently putting in the work and keep it up throughout the season," Tuma stated.

At the 2024 CSCAA National Invitational Championships, Tuma placed 33rd in the 1650 freestyle after a two-week training period from her first-place performance at the MAC Championships. In preparation for this year's championships, Tuma has plotted her game plan to come back even stronger.

"[Coach J.] and I talked about it, and we thought it was just the wrong sense of what I should have been swimming in between to keep up what I could have done at the NIC meet," Tuma stated. "This year I will be swimming [the 1650 freestyle] again, and we have a better outline of what we can do in those two weeks to not have that happen again this year."

The men's and women's programs will begin their seasons on Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. inside the Lewellen Aquatic Center as they go against UIC.

"We're working hard. I think we can expect some really great swimming," Siewers prided.