Michigan State University Athletics
Women's Swimming & Diving Travels to Illinois
1/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The women's swimming & diving team travels to face Big Ten foe Illinois this weekend in Champaign, Illinois. The action will begin at 1 p.m. ET at the ARC Pool. The Spartans come into the weekend with a record of 5-7, following a 186-108 victory at Oakland.
"I feel really good heading into this weekend," said head coach Matt Gianiodis. "Our women did a really nice job in the win over Oakland. I feel good, our kids will get some rest, I think our team is in really great shape and is ready to take on Illinois."
LOOKING BACK
The Spartan women recorded 10 victories in last weekend's victory over the Golden Grizzlies of Oakland.
MSU was led by junior Elizabeth Brown who recorded three victories on the day. In the women's 200 butterfly, MSU grabbed the two fastest times. Brown won with a time of 2:01.93. Senior Hannah Pugh finished in second at 2:04.86. Brown was also victorious in the 100 butterfly where she recorded a time of 56.45, Sarah Love finished in second at 57.48.
The Spartans swept the women's 50 freestyle. Sarah Love was victorious with a 24.42 finish. Freshman Racheal Bukowski finished second at 24.60, Emily Parsons in third at 25.65, and Freshman Maison Moore in fourth at 24.90.
Haley Kornburger earned a first place finish in the women's 500 freestyle; she finished with a time of 5:08.01. Chelsea Abbott followed behind in second, recording a time of 5:09.03.
Senior Cristee Cordes had the highest score in the women's 1 -meter at 283.72. Sophomore Madeline Sewell recorded the highest score in the women's 3-meter at 321.00.
DOMINATING AT DIVING
The Michigan State women's diving team has come away winners of five of the last six diving events. The divers have also won all but two non-conference diving events. The only losses were at Notre Dame at the first meet of the season.
BREAKING INTO THE RECORD BOOK
Freshman Madison Nowak recorded the seventh-fastest time in school history in the 100 backstroke. Nowak posted a career-best time of 56.78 at Oakland on Saturday.
LOOKING AT THE ILLINI
Illinois comes into the meet with a 5-4 record, including a 1-2 record against Big Ten teams. The Fighting Illini are coming off of a 171-129 victory over Nebraska last weekend. The Illini are led by senior Alison Meng, who broke the pool record in the 100 backstroke against Nebraska. Illinois will be recognizing its eight seniors on Saturday: Hailey Booth, Kayla Dlugopolski, Emily Fung, Sabrinne Gibson, Megan Marchuk, Callan McDermott, Alison Meng and Erika Murphy.
"Alison Meng is a great swimmer for Illinois," said Gianiodis. "She is fantastic; she has had a great career down there. Sue Novitsky is one of my best friends in the profession, and she always gets her girls prepared. Last time we went down there we lost by one point, so we will see what we can do this time."
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