Women Swimmers Fall to Michigan on Senior Day

It was the last time for MSU women to make a splash at home, as they went up against the University of Michigan Friday night.

The Spartans were ready ready to take on the competition, senior Shelby Lacy, who had some of her stronger swims of the season, said.

Lacy came out of the pool just a tenth of a second slower than her 50-yard breaststroke PR, which she said was fairly surprising. Lacy won the event in 29.12 seconds.

Taking first and second place in the 200 butterfly was junior Elizabeth Brown and senior Hannah Pugh. Brown swam a 2:02.79 and Pugh followed close behind with a 2:03.91.

The final score for the night was Michigan with 199 points and MSU with 95.

The 15th-ranked women Wolverines blazed through the first half of the meet, taking wins in four of the five events. Michigan claimed a new pool record in the 800 free relay with a time of 7:28.53.

With Big Tens looming, the Spartan women were able to swim more sprints in order to rest up for the conference matchup just a couple weeks away. Coach Matt Gianiodis is encouraged going into Big Tens, and said the girls swam a lot better than they did last week against the University of Illinois, where they lost 190-110.

Sophomore Kennedy Cutler took Lacy’s usual spot in the 400 medley relay, which took second with a time of 3:51.89.

Following up with another short sprint, sophomore Sarah Love started out strong in the 50 butterfly, but was out-touched by a Wolverine swimmer. Love finished with a time of 25.45.

Cutting four seconds off of her 500 free time from the last home meet against OSU, senior Hannah Pugh claimed third place in 5:01.32 seconds.

Aside from their fast swims during their years as Spartans, there is more to the class of 2015.

“They’re very good academically, they’re really hard workers, and they’re great kids,” Gianiodis said. “They’re awesome representatives of our university and our athletic department.”

Out of the seven women on the team graduating this spring, six have achieved Academic All-Big Ten awards.

“They’re a great group of kids and we’re really gonna miss them,” Gianiodis said.

The night was bittersweet for Lacy, but before the last relay, she said she was ready to put in her last home meet swim.

“After doing this for four years as a Spartan and 13 years competitive swimming it’s gonna be weird to be done,” Lacy said. “But you have to throw in the towel at some point.”

On Saturday, the Spartan men swimmers and divers take on the Wolverines and celebrate the seniors’ last home meet.


 

Julie Angell is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports

Photo: Julie Angell/Impact Sports