Men’s Swim and Dive Falls to Notre Dame

The MSU men’s swim and dive team was defeated by Notre Dame Friday night, 171-127.

The Fighting Irish started the night with a win in the 200 medley relay, and ended the night beating out the Spartan men in the 400 freestyle relay.

In between the first and last events, MSU swimmers had some strong performances that stood out to head coach Matt Gianiodis.

“We raced and we raced pretty hard,” Gianiodis said.

Gianiodis noted Notre Dame’s strong men’s team and said the Spartan men put up a good fight against their competitors. The Fighting Irish are currently ranked No. 25 in the country.

But going up against Notre Dame’s highly-ranked swimmers and divers did not intimidate the Spartans, according to Gianiodis.

“We get in our lane and we race as hard as we can,” Gianiodis said.

Freshman Lachie McLeish won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.05 and the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.21, out-touching a Notre Dame swimmer by one tenth of a second.

Alex Trompke took first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 49.88 and dove back in to take first place in the 100-yard butterfly in 49.51 seconds.

Gianiodis said Mcleish, Trompke and Nate Weeks have been “fantastic” in the pool so far this year.

The Spartans and Fighting Irish were neck and neck for most of the races of the night. Another highlight for the men’s team was sophomore Sam Hiller out-touching an Irish swimmer in the 200-yard backstroke by .21 seconds with a time of 1:51.76.

Senior David Zoltowski said he saw similarities in the score between Friday night’s duel against Notre Dame and the previous home meet against Iowa. Zoltowski would be correct, as the Hawkeyes beat the Spartan men’s swimmers 171-126, just a one-point difference from the meet versus Notre Dame.

Despite a disappointing loss, Zoltowski said it was a good meet overall and a “launch pad” into the next upcoming meet.

“It’s just a week at a time,” Zoltowski said.

The men’s swim and dive team have their eyes set on the Northwestern Invitational next weekend, Nov. 21, in Evanston, Illinois.


Julie Angell is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports

Photo: Max King/Impact Sports