Men’s S&D Set For MVC Showdown at Miami

MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State men's swimming & diving program will face a familiar foe Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. when it travels to the Corwin M. Nixon Aquatic Center for a Missouri Valley Conference showdown with Miami.

It will be the first meeting between the two former Mid-American Conference rivals in their new league, the MVC. In last season's dual meeting, the RedHawks earned a 190-110 victory over the Cardinals in a Jan. 26 meet also held in Oxford, Ohio.

Ball State won five events that day, with the lone returning individual event winner being junior Jacob Siewers who took top billing in the 100 freestyle (45.56).

However, the Cardinals will look to build on some strong performances from last Saturday's season-opener versus UIC which saw Ball State win seven events and fall just shy of the Flames at 143.5-156.5.

Leading the way in the meet were sophomore Malcolm Slater and freshman AJ Friend who collected a pair of individual wins each. Friend also swam the first leg of the first-place 400 freestyle relay to help him earn MVC Freshman of the Week honors.

Siewers also took top billing in the 100 freestyle last Saturday, while Ethan Pheifer won the 100 backstroke.

Miami also opened the season last weekend, suffering a 203-97 loss at Northwestern Saturday.

IN THE MVC RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA Division I Top Time Rankings as compiled by CollegeSwimming.com, the Cardinals have 14 student-athletes ranked in scoring position in their respective events heading into Friday's dual at Miami.

Men's Swimmers Currently Ranked in the MVC Top 16
50 Freestyle: 10th - AJ Friend (21.43)
100 Freestyle: 14th - Jacob Siewers (46.84)
200 Freestyle: 4th - Malcolm Slater (1:41.42) / 8th - Jacob Siewers (1:43.94) / 9th – Dominick Perkowski (1:44.94)
500 Freestyle: 4th - Malcolm Slater (4:41.59) / 10th - Alexander Eddy (4:51.62) / 13th - Seth Blossom (4:54.58)
1000 Freestyle: 8th - Alexander Eddy (10:01.37) / 11th - Seth Blossom (10:10.66) / 15th - Tommy Brunner (10:22.41)
1650 Freestyle: N/A
100 Backstroke: 10th - Ethan Pheifer (52.08)
200 Backstroke: 13th - Nathan Harper (1:57.01)
100 Breaststroke: 11th - Aidan Biddle (58.77) / 16th - Cutter Shipman (1:00.28)
200 Breaststroke: 14th - Aidan Biddle (2:12.58)
100 Butterfly: 11th - AJ Friend (51.38)
200 Butterfly: 13th - Reeve Ferber (1:56.96) / 13th - Luke Pryor (1:56.96) / 15th - Michael Mitsynskyy (1:57.29)
200 IM: 12th - Ethan Pheifer (1:57.09) / 13th - Malcolm Slater (1:57.39)
400 IM: N/A
200 Freestyle Relay: N/A
400 Freestyle Relay: 4th - Ball State (3:08.05)
800 Freestyle Relay: N/A
200 Medley Relay: 6th - Ball State (B) (1:35.44)
400 Medley Relay: N/A

FROM THE DIVING BOARDS:
Junior Porter Brovont currently leads the Cardinals on both the 1M (280.33) and 3M (249.98) boards.

Ball State Divers Top Results in 2024-25
Porter Brovont (Jr.) - 280.33 on 1M / 249.98 on 3M
Mitchell Mauck (Fr.) - 216.38 on 1M / 206.33 on 3M
NCAA Zone Diving Qualifying Marks: 300 on 1M / 320 on 3M

MVC AWARD WINNERS:
One week into the season and the Cardinals have already claimed one Missouri Valley Conference weekly award with freshman AJ Friend being named the MVC Men's Freshman of the Week after his performance versus UIC

Award Winners:
10/16/2023 - AJ Friend MVC Freshman of the Week

EVENT WINNERS:
As a squad, the Cardinals have chalked up six individual event wins and one relay victory so far this season.

2024-25 Men's Individual Event Winners (6)
2 - Malcolm Slater (So.)
      Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 200 Freestyle (1:41.42) / 500 Freestyle (4:41.59)

2 - AJ Friend (Fr.)
      Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 50 Freestyle (21.43) / 100 Butterfly (51.38)

1 - Jacob Siewers (Jr.)
      Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 100 Freestyle (46.84)

1 - Ethan Pheifer (Sr.)
      Oct. 12 vs. UIC: 100 Backstroke (52.08)

2024-25 Men's Relay Winners (1)
1 - 400 Freestyle Relay
      Oct. 12 vs. UIC: Friend, Young, Clarkston, Siewers (3:08.05)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Aidan Biddle

Seth Blossom

Porter Brovont

Tommy Brunner

Alexander Eddy

Reeve Ferber

AJ Friend

Nathan Harper

Mitchell Mauck

Michael Mitsynskyy

Dominick Perkowski

Ethan Pheifer

Luke Pryor

Cutter Shipman

Jacob Siewers

Malcolm Slater