The Eastern women’s swim team is now 0-6 this season after losing a matchup against Indiana State (11-1, in what was perhaps the biggest competition the team has faced this season.

Although Eastern has not got off to the best start this season, they are currently making a change for the better as time in their season progresses.

“We are at a point in our season, where are training is the highest it’s ever been,” head coach Jaqueline Michalski said. “And so for them to get out and race the way they did tonight, is really good and really impressive. We had some women that went lifetime best times, we had some women that went with in season best times and some that swim some off events and just got up and had a lot of fun with it and kind of made the best of the situation, which I was really proud of them for doing.”

Eastern’s main motive so far this season is to go out with a motive of having fun, according to Michalski.

“Today we focused on having fun. The longer you swim sometimes you forget how fun the sport is. So my conversations with them all week was let’s have fun, remember why you fell in love with the sport,” Michalski said. “So that’s really what today was about was trying to remember what it was like when you were a little kid swimming and just having fun and not letting the pressures of being a Division I athlete get to you, performing in the classroom, performing in the pool, performing in the community, which they do a great job of, sometime we have to take a step back and have fun.”

In which swimmers such as, sophomore Sarah Lohman and Jessica Harris had also mentioned on their evening meet. Lohman had an amazing performance in the 100-free event as she set a personal best of 53.85 and was quite amazed of her time.

“Honestly I wasn’t expecting to be going that fast,” Lohman said. “When I was swimming it just kind of happened and I was really excited when I saw the time because I have been trying to go that fast since I have been here at Eastern, but it was a ton of fun and was just doing my best to beat the girl next to me. And finishing that race and hearing everybody cheer for me was so cool, it was one of the best feelings I have ever had.”

Harris on the other hand, had an incredible performance within the 1000-Free, earning a time of 10:54.19 in which not only was a personal best for her, but also put her in the top 10 for best times in the 1000-Free.

“I (swam) the 1000 and I haven’t (swam) it at all so far this season and I was really close to my lifetime best time and it was just fun to not be mental about swimming and to just have fun get up and race and swim my off events and just the energy was so high today and just the support for one another and it was really good to see everyone have fun and laugh and we have not had a meet like that in so long,” Harris said.

Even though Eastern did not come out with a victory against Indiana State, they are still continuing to improve and develop their craft each and everyday. Michalski does her best to get her athletes to reach their highest potential.

“You can always do better,” Michalski said. “And we have conversations with that, sometimes you could take a race out faster, maybe hold back at the start, or work on technique.”

Eastern’s scheduled meet against Saint Louis on Jan. 19 was cancelled because of inclement weather.