It’s not all doom and gloom for the men’s swimming and diving team, which finished in last place in the Big Ten championships this past weekend.
Eighteen out of the team’s 24 swimmers are underclassmen. This youth and potential gives head coach optimism for the future.
“I think (the outlook) is really positive,” Gianiodis said. “They’re young kids that performed so well in a cruddy situation.”
The “cruddy situation” refers to the stacked Big Ten championships that didn’t give any favors to an inexperienced Spartan team this past weekend. The Spartans managed only 82 points in the four day competition. Northwestern, who finished in ninth place, had 181 points.
Michigan won the conference championship with 760 points.
“(The Big Ten championships) is really an intense meet. It’s cutthroat. Sometimes with a young team it can get the best of you,” Gianiodis said.
Despite the struggles against the conference elite in Iowa City, Iowa, MSU was able to rewrite some of its own records.
In the preliminary rounds of the 200 backstroke, sophomore Adam Marsh posted a 1:45.02 time, the second fastest time in program history.
Sophomore Sam Hiller followed up with an impressive time of his own, finishing at 1:45.85, the third fastest time in program history.
As a team from Thursday to Saturday, MSU tallied 18 all-time top 10 times.
“From an overall performance standpoint, I think we did really well,” Gianiodis said.
He said he thought sophomores Jon Burke and Alec Kandt, had the two best outings in the championships.
Burke posted the fifth fastest time 500 freestyle (4:23.51) Thursday, good for 17th place. In the consolation round, Burke clocked in at 4:26.54, good for 21st place.
Kandt recorded the second fastest time in school history in the 200 breaststroke Saturday. Kandt won the C finals with a 1:57.06 time to finish 17th.
“I would call those two guys, the standouts,” Gianiodis said.
Performances like the ones from Burke and Kandt give the program hope for a better tomorrow.
“I think moving forward, we’re in pretty good shape,” Gianiodis said.
