Michigan State University
Iowa
Spartan Swimmers Fall at Home to Iowa
10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Oct. 25, 2008
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's and women's swimming and diving teams each dropped its dual meet to Iowa on Saturday (Oct. 25) afternoon at McCaffree Pool. The Iowa women won, 154-146, by just touching out the Spartans in the meet's final event, the 400 free relay. The Hawkeye men won the meet by a score of 185-115. The Spartan women are now 0-3 on the year while the men are 0-1. Iowa's women's team improves to 2-1 and the men's team is now 3-0.
"For the women's meet, it came down to the last relay," said MSU head coach Matt Gianiodis. "When it comes down to the last relay, it comes down to one thing here and one thing there that makes the difference."
Colby Ward was the first Spartan to record a first place finish on the day, as he won the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 9:29.07.
Iowa's quick start early on put the Spartan women down, 38-17, while the MSU men also trailed, 32-23. Sophomore Stephanie Fisher then sparked the Spartans as her time of 56.74 in the 100 back got MSU back on track, staring a streak of six-consecutive Spartan wins. Kerry Sodonis (1:04.74) followed with a win in the 100 breast and Becca Ebner then won the 200 fly (2:05.30). Jon LaRocque got the men's team going, winning the 100 back (50.81), followed by a strong first-pace effort from kevin Puskaric in the 100 breast (56.82). Ricky Forrest completed the Spartans' string of six-straight first place swims for the men and women, touching the wall first in the 200 fly with a time of 1:52.78.
Puskaric and Sodonis later scored back-to-back first place finishes in the 200 breast as Puskaric swam a 2:04.71 while Sodonis turned in a time of 2:23.19.
"On the men's side, it was the first meet of the year for us, so, we are pretty happy with the way we opened up," Gianiodis said. "We had some strong performance by a lot of people and, obviously, we are four months away from Big Tens, so we have a long way to go."
Ebner's win in the 100 fly, with a time of 57.16, cut Iowa's lead to just two points with just three events remaining. Ebner has now won all six butterfly events she has competed in this season.
"Becca has been really incredible. I'm penciling her in to win every time now," said Gianiodis.
Senior Danielle Williams won the three-meter dive with her highest score of the year, 333.61. In the women's one meter dive, Williams took second (266.65) while Alycia Mokedanz took third (253.42). David Garry was the top finisher for the men, placing fourth in both the one and three-meter dives.
The MSU women's team will be back in action on Friday (Oct. 31) at 3 p.m. when it hosts Houston. The Spartan men will be back in the pool on Nov. 14 against Grand Valley State.
Players Mentioned
