Swimmers face tough test from Redhawks
January 29, 2004
The Bowling Green swimming and diving team has another difficult task to face this weekend as they host Miami University Friday and Ball State University Saturday.
Miami will be coming in tied for first in the Mid-American Conference with Ohio University at 5-0, 9-1 overall. Ball State is in a three-way tie for fourth in the MAC, 2-3 and 8-4 overall.
BG is fully aware of the challenge that awaits them, but is gaining confidence after solid performances in recent competition.
“Miami is the strongest team in the conference by quite a bit,” BG head coach Keri Buff said. “They are loaded with a team full of really good swimmers, but we have a lot of strong swimmers and divers. We haven’t yet had a meet where we put it all together, so we are looking for everyone to get phenomonal times on the same day.”
The Falcons are greatly anticipating the matchup against Ball State after they barely edged out BG in the MAC Championship a year ago.
“We have a little bit of a revenge issue with them after they beat us by six points at MAC’s last year, so we want to make sure that they know we are still around,” said Buff.
The upperclassmen have provided great results and leadership, but BG has been getting stellar progression from their freshman and sophomore swimmers this season and will need big performances from them once again this weekend.
“We have a really young team which is exciting because that means are future is bright,” Buff said. “We’ve been very fortunate. They are hard workers, so they are going to continue to improve and we are looking forward to seeing their growth.”
The team is still keeping their attention on the big prize of the season, the MAC Championship. Their focus has not shifted from what awaits them at the season’s end, but this team will be ready for their opponents on Friday and Saturday.
“We’re doing the same things as we always have and are looking forward to MAC’s at the end of the year,” said Buff. “We really won’t focus on Miami or Ball State until we get to the meet, but then it will be lights out racing.”
