Besides senior Colin McGill, who competed in Winter Nationals in early December, the Eastern men’s and women’s teams have not had a meet since House of Champions in late November.

On Saturday, Eastern gets its first chance to compete in 2014, as the Panthers take on the Ball State Cardinals in Muncie, Ind.

Eastern coach Elliot McGill said he likes the way the team has been practicing lately. He also acknowledges that the length of layoff from the team’s last competition will have an influence on the swimmers as they attempt to get back into the full swing of the season.

“We are practicing really well right now, but I expect we will still need to get the cobwebs out,” he said. “We have not had a full competition since late November. That’s a long time away from competition for any athlete.”

To come into the new year having to face a very formidable opponent in the Ball State Cardinals will be a great challenge for the Panthers, McGill said. Ball State has been a consistent program in the Mid-American conference during the last few years and will be very good competition to start the 2014 portion of the season, McGill said.

“Ball State has been a fairly strong MAC for a few years now,” he said. “They also have diving. They are a very good team.”

Although Ball State will be a tough opponent, the Panthers will need to keep their focus on themselves throughout the meet. They must recognize their strengths rather than focusing too much on the Cardinals success. How Ball State performs will be out of Eastern’s control McGill said.

“The key will be for us to focus on what we need to accomplish and what is within our control,” he said. “If we start to focus on Ball State and what they are doing, we are not giving ourselves the best chance. Control what we can – that’s all we can do.”

Saturday’s meet will be the second for the Cardinals in 2014. The Ball State men are coming off of losses to IUPUI and Xavier in a double-dual meet on Friday. However, the women came out on top against the same schools.

Eastern will begin its meet against Ball State at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Lewellen Aquatic Center in Muncie, Ind.

Dan Hildebrandt can be reached at 581-2812 or djhildebrandt@eiu.edu.