The Eastern men and women’s swim teams will travel to Muncie, Ind. at 5 p.m. today to compete in their fourth meet of the season against Ball State at the Lewellen Aquatic Center.

Both squads have great momentum coming into the meet after each of the teams picked up a win against Saint Louis two weeks ago.

The Ball State meet should be a good test for the Panthers as Cardinal head coach Bob Thomas, a graduate of Eastern, will be looking to lead his team past his alma mater for a fourth straight season.

Thomas won 14 national championships over the course of his swimming career at Eastern and was inducted into the Eastern Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.

Last year, the Cardinals topped the Eastern men’s swim squad 157-116 at Eastern’s Ray Padovan Pool. The Ball State men’s squad boasts 21 top 10 individual marks in the Mid-American Conference.

Among these are sophomore butterfly and breaststroke swimmer Chris Kupa who ranks seventh in the conference in the 200 butterfly.

Also on the men’s squad for Ball State are senior freestyle swimmers Ben Karwoski, and Austin Laska.

Laska, who holds BSU’s highest ranking in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.25, also holds a ninth place ranking in the 100 freestyle.

On the women’s side, Ball State boasts a variety of talented swimmers including sophomore backstroke and butterfly swimmer Sara Hostetler and senior freestyle swimmer Mary Ehresman.

Hostetler leads the Cardinals in top 10 individual marks as she ranks fifth in the conference in the 100 butterfly, sixth in the 200 backstroke, and 10th in the 200 butterfly.

Ehresman, on the other hand, has two top 10 times including ninth in the 1,650 freestyle, and 200 butterfly.

“Ball State is a little bit of a tough team to beat,” said Eastern freestyle swimmer Lauren Zillmer. “They have a lot of talent, but we are just hoping to go out and do our best.”

The Eastern men go into the Ball State meet at 2-1, while the women look to improve their record to .500 as they sit at 1-2.

After the Ball State meet, the Panthers will have a nice break to look forward to as their next meet does not happen until Jan. 5 at the Bob Mowerson Sprint meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Kevin Maras can be reached at 581-4972 or kjmaras@eiu.edu.