Men's Swimming Overcomes The Fighting Irish
11/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Nov. 7, 2003
East Lansing, Mich. - The Michigan State men's swimming and diving team opened the season with a victory in the first home duel meet of the season at the IM West building Friday (Nov. 7) evening. The Spartans took first place in 9 out of the 13 events, giving them a total winning score of 127.5-113.5 over the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
The meet marked the first dual meet as interim head coach for Matt Gianiodis and assistant coach Richard Mull. Mull took over for Gianiodis during the meet as Gianiodis went on the road with the women's team to compete in Ann Arbor.
"This was a really exciting meet," said Mull. "The guys swam exceptionally well, especially in unexpected events."
In the first event, the 400-medley relay team of Rudolph Wagenaar, Ian Clutten, Nick Harley, and Patrick Saucedo started the meet off on the right stroke when they seized first with a time of 3:26.10. Lucas Lehner, Rigali, Brian Stelle, and David Lessard also helped contribute points with a third place time of 3:29.26.
As the score vacillated back and forth between teams, it was the diving events that secured the win for the Spartans.
"The essence of the meet came down to .006 of a second, that's how close the meet was," stated Mull. "Fortunately, we had the diving and they really came through."
The Spartan men swept the three-meter competition with Justin Laskowski claiming first with a score of 322.80. Patrick Sheahan-Stahl posted a score of 303.22 which was good enough to take second, and Matt Ackerley scored 299.02 to finish third. On the one-meter boards, Laskowski finished with top honors again (327.60), with Sheahan-Stahl following behind (281.70) and Ackerley taking fourth place with a score of 244.05.
State had another one-two punch when Ian Clutten and Michael Rigali swept the 200 breaststroke with 2:03.86 and 2:06.96, respectively. Clutten also contributed in the 200 individual medley with a second place time of 1:54.98.
Freshman standouts Jason Vadney and Erik Williams made their home debut when Vadney captured the win in the 500 free (4:40.04) and the 200 free (1:41.54), and Williams took the top spot in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:53.94.
Sophomore Johan Sunryd claimed another win for the Spartans in the 200 backstroke, posting a time of 1:51.21 while Wagenaar secured third place with a 1:53.81. Another sophomore, David Habel, took second in the 1000 free - touching out in 9:38.31. Junior Peter Politi did his part in the 100 free(47.69) by claiming the second place spot.
"This meet was just a great night to be here," said Mull. "That's one home meet down and two to go."
The next Spartan home meet for the men is on Jan. 31, 2004 against Oakland. Next, the men will first travel to Ypsilanti, Mich. for tommorrow's meet against Eastern Michigan at noon.
Players Mentioned
