The Mid-American Conference swimming championship kicks off today, with BG hoping to sneak atop the leaderboard after a tough, but progressive season.

The MAC championship is hosted this year by Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. The Redhawks are heavily favored to win it all at home after winding up a perfect 8-0 in MAC meets and 12-1 overall. BG went head to head with Miami at the end of January, but fell 176-121.

Miami will face its toughest competition from Ohio University, who finished 7-1 in conference and 9-2 overall. The final MAC standings left four teams tied for third place at 4-4; Akron, Ball State, Buffalo, and Eastern Michigan. Toledo and BG tied at 2-6, while Marshall finished last with a 1-7 conference record.

After a slow start to the season for the Falcons, their hard work and dedication led to two home victories over Marshall and Ball State.

They ended the season dropping two road meets to Buffalo and Akron, but the team is well rested and excited for the big stage.

“We’ve been training hard for the championship, but we wanted the team to get their rest so they will peak at MAC’s,” said BG head coach Keri Buff. “We’ve had a good work ethic all year and all I want is for this team to do the best they can.”

At last year’s championship, the Falcons finished in sixth place, but they had twice the amount of swimmers on the team. With a new breed of young swimmers on this year’s squad stepping up, led by sophomores Stephanie Buckner, Kara Ohngren, and Dana Schultz, and freshman Caroline Keating and Brit O’Connor, the team is hoping to get at least another sixth place finish.

“This year, we are a lot stronger and more focused,” diver Molly Peterson said. “Coach Buff is always positive and she gets the team pumped up for competition.”

“One of the biggest keys to our team is that we all believe in ourselves,” Schultz said.

The MAC championship is a three-day event and it begins at 11 a.m. with swimming preliminaries.