Men's S&D Win Second-Straight Butler Invitational

FISHERS, Ind. -- The Ball State men's swimming and diving program matched its season-high seven event wins along with a dominant 30 top five finishes to secure its second-straight Butler Invitational with 1098 total points.

As they made their presence felt on the leaderboards, the Cardinals pulled off two top three sweeps in both the 50 freestyle and 200 individual medley Sunday afternoon.

In the 50 freestyle senior Ethan Pheifer took top honors (21.32), followed by junior Jacob Siewers (21.40) and junior Mason Young (21.55).

Freshman Nathan Harper celebrated the first individual event win of his collegiate career as he led the 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 IM (1:55.17). Harper was joined by Pheifer (1:55.39) and senior Michael Burns (1:56.03).

Also claiming their first individual wins of the season were sophomore Aidan Biddle in the 100 breaststroke (55.55) and junior Logan Ayres in the 200 backstroke (1:55.59).

Sophomore Tommy Brunner took home his second individual win of the season after he captured first in the 1650 freestyle (15:57.72).

The invitational was both opened and closed with victories in relay competition. Ball State claimed first place in the 200 medley relay (1:31.37) thanks to the efforts of Pheifer, Biddle, AJ Friend, and Siewers. To close the afternoon Malcolm Slater, Michael Mitsynskyy, Dominick Perkowski and Siewers took first in the 800 freestyle relay (6:51.69).

With this win, the Cardinals head into preparation for the program's first Missouri Valley Conference Championships Feb. 19-22.

Team Results
1st – Ball State - 1098
2nd – Xavier - 1041
3rd – Valparaiso - 985
4th – UIndy - 32

Ball State Results at Butler Invitational

200 Medley Relay | Program Record - 1:26.35 by Pheifer, Garberick, Handshoe, Chaye in 2023
1st – Ethan Pheifer, Aidan Biddle, AJ Friend, Jacob Siewers – 1:31.37
3rd – Erkan Ozgen, Michael Burns, Mason Young, Benjamin Clarkston – 1:33.47
4th – Auston Shafer, Reeve Ferber, Luke Pryor, Nathan Harper – 1:35.27
1650 Freestyle | Program Record - 15:33.58 by Magnus Ohlson in 1995
1st – Tommy Brunner – 15:57.72
2nd – Seth Blossom – 16:05.49
4th – Zach Zishka – 16:46.38
5th – Alexander Eddy – 16:47.74
100 Backstroke | Program Record - 48.32 by Jared Holder in 2021
2nd – Malcolm Slater – 52.00
3rd – Logan Ayres – 52.89
4th – Luke Pryor – 53.13
6th – Nathan Harper – 53.33
8th – Reece Manning – 56.88
100 Breaststroke | Program Record - 51.93 by Joey Garberick in 2024
1st – Aidan Biddle – 55.55
200 Butterfly | Program Record - 1:46.93 by Bryce Handshoe in 2024
2nd – AJ Friend – 1:51.98
3rd – Benjamin Clarkston – 1:53.65
4th – Reeve Ferber – 1:53.78
5th – Michael Mitsynskyy – 1:54.30
7th – Michael Burns – 1:55.61
8th – Kenny Reed – 1:59.38
50 Freestyle | Program Record - 19.89 by Owen Chaye on Two Occasions
1st – Ethan Pheifer – 21.32
2nd – Jacob Siewers – 21.40
3rd – Mason Young – 21.55
6th – Auston Shafer – 21.83
7th – Dominick Perkowski – 21.87
9th – Erkan Ozgen – 22.30
100 Freestyle | Program Record - 43.58 by Owen Chaye in 2023
2nd – Jacob Siewers – 46.27
3rd – Benjamin Clarkston – 46.75
6th – Aidan Biddle – 48.15
7th – Erkan Ozgen – 48.26
11th – Alexander Eddy – 49.07
200 Backstroke | Program Record - 1:48.22 by Logan Ackley in 2020
1st – Logan Ayres – 1:55.59
500 Freestyle | Program Record - 4:28.38 by Malcolm Slater in 2024
3rd – AJ Friend – 4:44.13
4th – Dominick Perkowski – 4:47.53
8th – Kenny Reed – 4:52.99
100 Butterfly | Program Record - 47.84 by Bryce Handshoe in 2024
2nd – Reeve Ferber – 51.42
4th – Malcolm Slater – 51.79
6th – Luke Pryor – 52.03
8th – Mason Young – 52.24
9th – Michael Mitsynskyy – 52.45
10th – Auston Shafer – 52.46
200 IM | Program Record - 1:49.31 by Joe Morris in 2015
1st – Nathan Harper – 1:55.17
2nd – Ethan Pheifer – 1:55.39
3rd – Michael Burns – 1:56.03
800 Freestyle Relay | Program Record - 6:36.72 by Siewers, Slater, Mitsynskyy, Chaye in 2024
1st – Malcolm Slater, Michael Mitsynskyy, Dominick Perkowski, Jacob Siewers – 6:51.69
3rd – Seth Blossom, AJ Friend, Alexander Eddy, Tommy Brunner – 6:59.62

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Players Mentioned

Logan Ayres

Aidan Biddle

Seth Blossom

Tommy Brunner

Michael Burns

Owen Chaye

Benjamin Clarkston

Alexander Eddy

Reeve Ferber

AJ Friend

Joey Garberick

Bryce Handshoe

Nathan Harper

Reece Manning

Michael Mitsynskyy

Erkan Ozgen

Dominick Perkowski

Ethan Pheifer

Luke Pryor

Kenny Reed

Auston Shafer

Jacob Siewers

Malcolm Slater

Mason Young

Zach Zishka