Michigan State Men Victorious, Women Tie

EAST LANSING, Michigan, December 9. THE Michigan State men's swimming and diving team picked up its first win of the season at home against Ball State (196-137) on Saturday, while the women ended the day splitting points (150-150) with the Cardinals.

"It's good to get the first win of the season for the guys, of course," Spartan head coach Matt Gianiodis said. "I thought we performed much better on the men's side than we did the women's side, although our divers were solid again for the women, and we had a couple people perform pretty well."

The women opened Saturday afternoon's non-conference meet against Ball State with victories in the first three events, but after the Cardinals evened the score, the meet literally remained even, with a final score of 150-150.

The MSU women (2-4-1) started off the day victorious in the 200 medley relay. Sasha Lewerenz, Laura DeFord, Megan Reponen and Eve Brusie, recorded a time of 1:48.83. Swimming in the 1,000-yard freestyle for the first time this season, Heather Kiluk recorded a victory with a time of 10:35.63. Jennifer Korn also came away with a win, swimming her second-best time of the season in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.26).

Katelyn Edwards once again dove to victory on both the one- and three-meter board, sweeping the events for the fifth time this season, scoring 275.18 and 279.38, respectively. Alicia Mokedanz followed up in second place on the one meter, with a score of 257.77.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Marlys Fuqua touched first at 5:06.93, posting her best time of the season. Megan Reponen won the 100-yard butterfly, with a time of 58.66.

The Spartan men (1-4) opened the meet with an impressive win in the 200-yard medley relay. Gabe Strickler, Matt McNichols, Marcus Poteete and Adam Schmitt recorded a winning time of 1:34.65. Krzysztof Olszewski followed up the win, with a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle, finishing in 9:25.71.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Adam Schmitt turned in a time of 53.05 to win the event. Marcus Poteete followed up with a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking in at 59.31.

Jason Vadney was the first to touch in the 100-yard freestyle at 47.00. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Marcus Poteete clocked in at 2:11.85, good for first place. In the 100-yard butterfly, Sho Koba was victorious, with a time of 51.14.

For the divers, the Michigan State men took the top three spots on the three-meter board, with Matt Akerley leading the way with a score of 273.83. He was followed by David Garry (270.75) and Ivan Zalessov (261.75).

The Spartans also swept the one-meter board. This time David Garry led the Spartans to victory, scoring 264.97, followed by Akerley (264.15) with Zalessov rounding out the top three with a score of 261.14.

"By and large, we underperformed today, but we'll see how we do," Gianiodis said. "The next month is going to be critical for our season."

Both the men's and the women's teams take a break from competition until after the New Year. MSU will pick back up with a men's and women's combined meet against Purdue at home on Jan. 13 at 2 p.m.

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