Bowling Green vs. Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Michigan, February 4. THE Michigan State women's swimming & diving team wrapped up its regular season on Friday, Feb. 4 with a 169-129 win over Bowling Green at home. Seniors Becca Ebner and Sarah Mory each posted wins in the final home event of their careers.

"The goal was to out swim them tonight, since Bowling Green does not have a diving squad," said MSU head coach Matt Gianiodis. "I thought we did a really nice job tonight, once we were able to get the first few events out of the way. I am really encouraged with what we saw today. For being two weeks out (of Big Ten's), which is kind of a funky time to have a meet, we were really encouraged with the way the kids competed. The times that we saw today were really great to see, as well. We have two weeks to prepare for the Big Ten Championships, so we will see what we can do from now until then."

The meet also marked the end of the career of three Spartan women – Becca Ebner, Stephanie Fisher and Sarah Mory. For their hard work and dedication to the program, MSU honored them as a part of the meet with a ceremony for each student-athlete and their family, as well as with a reception at the conclusion.

"It was nice to send these great Spartans out with a win tonight. Becca, in particular, I don't think that was happy with the way the 200-yard butterfly turned out early in the meet, so to see her rebound and pull out the win in the 100-yard butterfly was great. As for Sarah, it was nice to see her win her last collegiate event here tonight in the 1-meter. All three are great kids and will be deeply missed next season," Gianiodis said.

The Spartans struggled early in the meet as they were only able to win one of the first seven events of the night. KJ Burkland posted the team's lone win in that span with a victory in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:22.57. Burkland won the event by open water and took control of the race from the start.
Sarah Clay earned the first diving win of the day for MSU with the team's season best score of 353.78 on the 3-meter springboard. Clay was joined by Mory in second with a 342.30 mark. Cristee Cordes was third (307.88) while Ashley Borgman was fourth (298.95).

Jenny Rusch turned in her first win of the night when she clocked a winning time of 52.94 in the 100-yard freestyle.

Three events later, Burkland completed the distance freestyle sweep by winning the 500-yard freestyle in 5:05.65. Once again, Burkland was the top female in the event as she led start-to-finish. Clocking in second in was Rachel Wilson with a time of 5:09.58.

Burkland's win started a string of four straight wins in the pool for the Green and White. Becca Ebner earned a win in the 100-yard butterfly, her final collegiate swim at MSU, by concluding the race in 56.81 to win by 0.53.

Mory and the rest of the divers returned to the board for the 1-meter springboard. Mory posted the team's best mark of the year with a score of 332.61. Clay followed in second (326.78) while Borgman was third (306.82). Cordes rounded out the divers in fourth with a 273.52 mark.

Alex Pierce joined her fellow Spartans with an individual win in the 200-yard IM. Pierce clocked the team's best time of the year with a time of 2:09.22.

MSU concluded the meet with a close win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Spartan relay team of Rusch, Tori Merritt, Morgan Piasecki and Brooke Telander combined for a time of 1:36.63, edging out Bowling Green's `A' team by 0.09.

Michigan State's men close out their season tomorrow (Feb. 5) when they host Michigan at 2 p.m. at the Charles McCaffree Pool at IM West. The Green & White will honor the seniors as part of the meet against the Wolverines.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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