After recording 57 season-best times out of 60 performances last weekend, Ball State men’s swimming and diving has high energy as it turns its attention to the holiday break. Head swimming coach Bob Thomas said practice over the break will be key.

“We have three weeks of break and we try to split it up, where they have on-campus training half of the time and they go home and train for the other half,” Thomas said. “The hope is while they’re home that they enjoy the time off, but they do make an effort to get in the water and stay wet and maintain what they gained up to this point.” 

Having a chance to go home for a portion of the holiday break opens the opportunity for swimmers to practice with their previous club or high school teams.

Ball State traveled to Florida last year to train during the break, which was its first training trip in over ten years. However, this year the team has decided to stay in Muncie to train.

“We came here for a reason: to swim,” senior Banistre Lienhart said. “I think everyone has come to terms with that and it’s great being together with the whole team. I think it’s a really great bonding experience as well.” 

When Leinhart is home for break, he is going to train with his club team in Illinois called WEST, where they swim at Westmount High School.  

“The club team swims at a newly built fantastic facility,” Lienhart said. “It’s going to be great being able to train there when I’m home.” 

Aside from the training in the swimming pool, swimmers have to maintain their weight over the break too. While some athletes want to maintain their weight, Lienhart plans to gain it in muscle. 

“I plan to maintain lifting, working out and eat the same amount, if not a little more than usual,” Lienhart said. “I mean it’s the holidays. I’m going to eat more than I usually do, but that’s okay. I’m not too worried about losing or gaining weight.” 

While home over the break, freshman Drew Weeks is going to practice with his high school team in Marian Central, Illinois. Weeks is using this break to conduct his focus on nothing but swimming.

“I think now that we don’t have classes or anything, we’re just stuck here for the winter,” Weeks said. “You can focus on a lot more and getting more yards up and putting more intensity into everything.” 

During this time of year, Weeks said he tends to go overboard with eating. 

“We’re doing so many yards and focusing on swimming and lifting,  I kind of just stay the same weight most of the time,” Weeks said. 

With only the coed tri-meet against IUPUI and Xavier on Jan. 5, it will be hard for some to keep the competitive energy going, but Lienhart doesn’t think this will be an issue.

“There’s a lot of good competition,” Lienhart said. “I think it’s one of our more exciting meets, because we’re able to compete with the two teams there. I’m really looking forward to it.”    

The meet is in 29 days and it will take place at the IUPUI Natatorium. It is slated to start at 6 p.m.  

Contact Patrick Murphy with comments at prmurphy2@bsu.edu.

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