The University of Evansville men’s swimming and diving team will head to Carbondale, Ill., this weekend to compete in the Mid-American Conference Championships.

Hosted by Southern Illinois, the three-day championship will begin on Thursday and last until Saturday night.  

“We’ve talked a lot this season about committing to racing,” explained head coach Rickey Perkins. “The key for the men this weekend will be to focus only on racing against the people around them. If we can just commit to the race and not worry about times and finishes, we can be very successful.”

Going into the weekend, Evansville holds eight individual Top-20 times in the MAC. Sophomore Alex Seward leads the Aces with three Top-20 times, including a fifth place time of 49.96 in the 100-yard butterfly. Seward also made the cut in the 200-yard butterfly and is joined by freshman sophomore Kyle Tiemann in the Top-20 for the 100-yard freestyle. Freshmen Carder LaBrake and Ryan Metzger each hold Top-20 times as well, LaBrake’s in the 1000-yard freestyle and Metzger’s in the 200-yard backstroke. Senior diver Andy Balczo currently sits in 11th place on the 1-meter board with his NCAA Zone-qualifying score of 310.05 and holds the 12th place score on the 3-meter.

This season, Balczo and Seward made history as the first two Purple Aces ever selected as MAC Swimmer of the Week. Balczo broke ground when he was chosen for the weekly award for the first time in UE history on October 20. Balczo was one of just two divers selected for the award throughout the 2010-11 season. Seward joined Balczo on November 3 when he was selected for the title, marking the second time that UE had been honored with the award.

Last year Evansville finished in seventh place at the MAC Championships with an overall score of 136.5. As a freshman, Seward led the Aces with three Top-16 finishes, including a 13th place time of 50.96 in the 400-yard individual medley. Senior Chris Nash finished his junior campaign with the highest finish of the meet for the Aces, placing 12th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.96.

“Our goal for the weekend is to score more points,” added Perkins. “I’m expecting our relay teams to do really well. The rest will just depend on how well we are able to focus on committing to the race.”