Swimming and Diving Concludes Competition At Pittsburgh Invite

Nov. 24, 2002

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Michigan State men's and women's swimming and diving teams concluded the three-day Pittsburgh Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 24. Alicia Copestick (East Liverpool, Ohio) was the lone event winner on the day for the Spartans, as she captured the women's 100 freestyle event in a time of 51.59.

The Spartan men fell to fourth-place on the final day of competition, finishing with a three-day total of 564 points. Host Pittsburgh won the invitational with 1332 points, while No. 16 Texas A&M captured second with 1264. Connecticut made its move on the final day to claim third-place (574), just 10 points ahead of the Spartans. Buffalo rounded out the five teams with 190 points.

The Michigan State women's team remained in third-place, posting a final total of 712.50 points. Texas A&M won the invitational with 1334 points, followed by Pittsburgh (1264). Behind the Spartans were UConn (591) and Buffalo (200) to round out the field.

The Spartans also earned a high finish from freshman Ian Clutten (Capetown, South Africa), who completed the 200 breaststroke event in a second-place time of 2:01.41. The women's 400 medley relay squad of Rachael Hagerman (Goodland, Kan.), Deb Hollon (Calisle, Pa.), Copestick and Tammy Jones (Conyers, Ga.) swam the event in 3:29.25, to earn third-place honors.

Senior Joe Brennan (Poway, Calif.) captured fourth-place accolades in the men's 1650 freestyle, finishing in 16:01.67, while classmate Kate Duncombe (Erie, Pa.) earned equal honors in the women's 200 backstroke (2:03.08). Hagerman claimed fifth-place in the women's 100 freestyle with a time of 52.49.

The Spartans received three more top-ten finishes in the respective 1650 freestyle events. Freshman David Habel (Cincinnati, Ohio) swam to a seventh-place finish on the men's side (16:13.54), while freshman Tesla Hughes (Taft, Tenn.) and senior Deb O'Neil (Chalfont, Pa.) finished ninth and tenth in the women's event, with times of 17:23.33 and 17:25.94, respectively.

Jones and Patrick Saucedo (Jackson, Mich.) both finished in seventh-place in their respective 100 freestyle races, as Jones swam the women's event in 51.91 and Saucedo finished the men's event in 46.14. Freshman Emily Crookall-Nixon (Cumbria, England) swam to an eighth-place finish in the women's 200 backstroke (2:06.97), while teammates Heather Wellings (Simpsonville, S.C.) and Crissy Spaulding (Grand Blanc, Mich.) finished the 200 breaststroke in seventh (2:23.71) and eighth-place (2:26.81), respectively. Freshman Erika Templeton (Canton, Ohio) rounded out the event with a 10th-place finish (2:25.19).

The Green and White are off from team competition until Dec. 19, when they take on California-Irvine.