Michigan State University
University of Illinois - Chicago
Spartans Celebrate Senior Night During Home Stretch Weekend
10/30/2019 7:52:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Oct. 30, 2019
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's swimming & diving teams host two meets this weekend. The Spartans will celebrate their senior night Friday, Nov. 1 against the University of Illinois-Chicago at 5 p.m. They will then return to IM West on Saturday to take on Northwestern at 12 p.m.
"I'm looking forward to Friday night because it's our senior celebration. We're going to do it in the fall again this year because we were successful with it last year," said head coach Matt Gianiodis. "We'll get to honor nine student-athletes for whom this will be the final in their career as Spartans. Hopefully we'll see a lot of people there."
After a week off, the Spartans are ready to get back into competition. The women are currently coming off a tied meet against Illinois, 150-150. Junior Erin Szara picked up her fourth consecutive win in the 100 breaststroke against the Illini.
The men are looking to pick up their second win of the season. Their last time in the pool was Oct. 18 against Pittsburgh where senior Michael Schwers claimed his third consecutive first-place finish in the 100 butterfly.
On the diving side, two Spartans took home first-place finishes against Pittsburgh. Junior Amanda Ling in the 1-meter and sophomore Jakob Heberling in the 3-meter.
UIC men's and women's programs both come off strong seasons in 2018-19. The men finished fifth in the Horizon League Championship while the women finished sixth. They return two All-American honorable mentions in junior divers Cydney Liebenberg and Felix LaFortune.
"Friday night I'm very excited for because Tim Loeffler, the head coach, is my old assistant coach," said Gianiodis. "We swam against them last year, men only, but this will be the first time he's been back."
In last season's Big Ten Championships, the Northwestern men finished in ninth place, while the women took seventh. In both teams most recent meet back on Oct. 12, they finished with a clean sweep over UIC and Illinois at home.
"Northwestern's a great team. Jeremy Kipp has taken over both of those programs and they're swimming incredibly well," said Gianiodis.
Live stats from both meets can be on MeetMobile and fans can also follow along on Twitter, @MSUswim&dive. Results can be found at the conclusion of the meet at msuspartans.com.
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Players Mentioned
