Spartan Swimmers Fall to Buckeyes

MSU swimmers and divers fell to Big Ten powerhouse Ohio State in East Lansing on Friday night.

The Spartan men and women lost to OSU by 93 and 55 points respectively. Despite facing a high-ranking team and losing most of the night’s events, the Spartans swam some of their fastest times and tried to match the Buckeyes’ high energy.

“Well i think its easy to get up against them – they’re a Big Ten foe…,” head coach Matt Gianiodis said.

A statement was made early in the meet during the 400 medley relay, when the OSU men swimmers swam a new pool record with a time of 3:17.27.

The Spartan women took first place in the 400 medley relay and led by a body length nearly the entire race, finishing with a time of 3:50.50. The relay was comprised of Madison Nowak, Shelby Lacy, Sarah Love and Emily Parsons.

Lacy also stepped up in the 50 freestyle, tying for second place with Ohio State’s Aliena Schmidtke in 24.46 seconds.

Saturday, the team faces a foe outside of the Big Ten, yet still close to home. Oakland University is the next stop for MSU swim and dive for a busy weekend in the water.

Some swimmers changed lanes a bit and swam irregular events to rest up for Saturday, but that didn’t stop freshman Connor Lamb from clinching first place in one of his off events.

After hugging the lane line separating him and an OSU swimmer for most of the 500 freestyle race, Lamb pulled away to win with a time of 4:38.00. The Buckeyes were left in second and third place.

“He (Lamb) usually doesn’t swim that event, which is really cool,” Gianiodis said.

Senior Hannah Pugh fared well in the 200 IM, an event she usually doesn’t swim and doesn’t plan on swimming for the rest of the season. She took second place with 2:08.94 seconds.

Pugh said that including herself, the team did better than they thought they would for the first home meet they have hosted in over two months. The energy is being transferred into another heated day of racing.

“Oakland has always been one of our really big rivals,” Pugh said.

It’s all the “little things” that will deliver fast swims at Big Tens for the Spartan swimmers, according to Gianiodis and Lamb. Bits and pieces of each swim had improved this meet, they said, and will be a driving force for success at Big Tens.

After a less than consistent meet at Purdue, the Spartans delivered fast swims against a Big Ten powerhouse, Gianiodis said.

“We gotta bring some good energy tomorrow,” Gianiodis said. “They (Oakland) really get geeked up for Michigan State down there.”


Julie Angell is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports

Photo: Julie Angell/Impact Sports