After finishing with a near perfect season, the Bowling Green swim and dive team has their sights set on MAC Championships.
The Falcons finished the regular season at 9-1 with one loss coming from conference rival Buffalo.
The loss ended the chances of a perfect season, but Martin said it might have come at just the right time.
“I think it was a little extra motivation, a little wakeup call to show that we can not be comfortable no matter what,” Martin said. “If you’re 30 points ahead or if you’re one point ahead, you’ve got to be on your tip toes always.”
Those tip toes will be heading to Ypsilanti for the championship which starts Wednesday night.
“The top four or five programs are going to be dancing back and forth the whole time,” head coach Petra Martin said. “So we just have to be on it, deliver on every swim and we’ll see what happens.”
Martin said the regular season is all about preparing for MAC meets, including the invitational’s scheduled during the year.
The Falcons swam in the Eastern Michigan Invite, giving the team a chance to get used to the environment.
Junior Hannah Newman said the opportunity to swim in Ypsilanti gave the team the ability to get the logistics of the meet down before the actual championship.
“Definitely swimming in the pool, it kind of gives you an advantage. You know what the blocks are like, what the walls are like, if it’s kind of dark in there,” Newman said.
In the preseason coaches’ poll, the Falcons were picked to finish third behind Miami and defending MAC champion, Akron.
The Redhawks were picked to finish first in the poll, and they are one team the Falcons have yet to face.
“We haven’t swam against Miami this year, so that should be interesting to be able to get in the water with them and see how they’re doing,” sophomore Victoria Griffin said.
The four-day championship meet will require long race days with preliminaries starting in the morning and consolations and championships beginning in the evening.
It will be tough racing, but Griffin said she is excited to get in the pool and see the results.
“We have so many great pieces to a puzzle,” Griffin said, “and I think it’s just going to get put together really well at the championships.”
The Falcons finished third in the MAC last season. The championship meet goes through Saturday.
