Michigan State University
M Swimming vs. Purdue
Men's Swimming and Diving Upsets No. 16 Purdue
1/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Jan. 18, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's swimming and diving team upset No. 16 Purdue on Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Charles McCaffree Pool in East Lansing, Mich. Backed by 1-2-3 sweeps in both diving events, the Spartans handed the Boilermakers their first dual-meet loss of the year by a 131-112 margin.
"The guys showed heart today," head coach Jim Lutz stated following the meet. "I am so proud of the way that they stood up. Every point counted today and each person made sure that they were a factor."
The Spartans got off on the right start as the 200 medley relay team of Karl Sunryd (Molndal, Sweden), Ian Clutten (Capetown, South Africa), David Sloan (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Nick DeFauw (West Bloomfield, Mich.) won the opening event in a time of 1:31.85.
Senior Joe Brennan (Poway, Calif.) won the first of his two event titles in the 200-freestyle, touching the wall in a time of 1:40.78. Brennan went on to capture the 500 freestyle in 4:32.47 to bring his weekend title mark to four.
The Spartans also captured freestyle event titles from DeFauw and Patrick Saucedo (Jackson, Mich.) DeFauw finished first in the 50-freestyle in a time of 21.72, while Saucedo touched the wall on the 100 event in 46.99.
Freshman David Habel (Cincinnati, Ohio) was the final Spartan swimmer to garner first-place honors, winning the 400 IM with a time of 4:04.70.
The Michigan State divers were instrumental in the Spartans' success. Backed by a pair of top-scores from sophomore Justin Laskowski (Bay City, Mich.), the Spartans swept both boards, outscoring the Boilermakers 32-6.
Laskowski tallied a 299.32 on the one-meter board, ahead of senior Nick Visscher (Holland, Mich.) and junior Patrick Sheahan-Stahl (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.). Visscher and Sheahan-Stahl posted marks of 286.80 and 258.07, respectively.
The trio also teamed up in the same order to take the three-meter event. Laskowski scored a NCAA Qualifying Score of 311.85 to secure first-place. Visscher scored a 259.05 and Sheahan-Stahl earned a 249.98 to round out the top three.
"This was definitely an exciting day," Lutz continued. "It was a very fun meet to watch. We had tremendous leadership from everyone, especially our captains. A win is good. A conference win is better. And a win over the 16th-ranked team in the country is huge. Everything is coming together and it's going to be exciting to see."
The Spartans will remain at home next weekend. The women host Penn State and Indiana on Friday, Jan. 24, at 6 p.m., in a championship-type format. The women will swim in three segments, continuing action on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. The men will host Penn State on Saturday at noon at the Charles McCaffree Pool in the IM West Building.
Players Mentioned
