The MSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will welcome the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at 1 p.m. on Jan. 23 at McCaffree Pool in IM Sports-West. This will be the men’s teams’ first and only home meet in 2016.
Both teams look to bounce back after a loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes. The men were edged out 186-101, and the women fell 182-104.
The women’s team is led by seniors Elizabeth Brown and Marina Borri, who both swam at the AT&T Winter Nationals from Dec. 3-5, 2015 in Federal Way, Washington. Brown led the way with her seventh-place finish in the C Finals of the 200-meter butterfly. Borri swims the breaststroke and 200 individual medley for the Spartans.
The rest of the Spartan women’s team will look to their meet against the Golden Grizzlies as a chance to get back on track, as they did at the Northwestern Invite earlier this swim season, where they placed second.
A whole team effort led to the solid finish in Evanston. Freshman Cathryn Armstrong had a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter backstroke, and sophomore Racheal Bukowski and freshman Courtney Aycock both qualified for the championship heat in the 100-meter freestyle.
On the men’s side, the Spartans will look to rely on their upperclassmen leaders, senior Ian Rodriguez, junior Adam Marsh and junior Alec Kandt. All three swimmers qualified and competed in the AT&T Winter Nationals meet representing MSU.
Kandt highlighted the three swimmers with his 27th place performance in the 200-meter breaststroke. Rodriguez, the winner of the Puerto Rican title, placed 44th in the 100-meter backstroke.
At the Northwestern Invite, the men’s swimming and diving team earned first place, displaying both their talent and depth through numerous events. Between two events, the 100-meter individual medley and 50-meter butterfly, the Spartans earned seven lanes overall in the final heats.
Both Spartan teams have the talent to compete with teams all across the nation, as seen at the Northwestern Invite. With only two dual meets left on the 2015-16 schedule, they will have to perform at their best to continue the success.
The Spartans will finish up their dual-meet season when they travel to Ann Arbor to face rival University of Michigan on Feb. 6. The Big Ten championship for the men’s and women’s teams follows in the last two weeks of February.
