Ball State men’s swimming and diving begin the Mid-American Conference Championships today in Carbondale, Illinois. Head swimming coach Bob Thomas said his team has gotten faster at each meet since Winter Break.

“We are right on schedule to have a really good conference meet,” Thomas said.

Thomas said he is anxious to see everyone do well, especially the seniors who are competing in their last conference meet.

“They [senior class] have been a great nucleus for the team,” Thomas said. “My hope is that they go out with a bang and finish with their personal best performances in all of their events.”

For these couple of weeks, senior Austin Green has been tapering. Green said during these practices he has been focusing on his distance per stroke.

“As well as my flip turns, basically flipping over as fast as possible and getting into a tight streamline,” Green said. 

This season, Green’s fastest time in the 50-yard freestyle is 21.18.

“I hope to get a personal best time of 20.5 or so,” he said.

Senior Tanner Barton has been swimming twice a day. Barton said these last couple of weeks have been individualized.

“Some guys are swimming not as much, others are not swimming as often,” Barton said. “I like swimming twice a day, because it allows me to focus on some fine-tuned details.”

During diving practices, assistant diving coach Jake Brehmer has observed sophomore Gabe Dean being more confident about his dives.

“He has put in a lot of hard work and that has started to pay off well,” Brehmer said.

On one-meter, Dean scored a personal best at the Miami dual meet. From this meet, Dean said he has been cleaning up his list of dives.

“All of those dives are coming in greatly,” Dean said. “I have fixed the little things for these dives too.”

Leading up to MAC championships, Dean’s confidence has been increasing.

“I’m hoping that all that work I put in will further help me with this meet coming up,” Dean said.

The MAC Championships start at 7 p.m. today in Carbondale, Illinois.

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