MSU Swimming And Diving Heads To Georgia Invitational

Dec. 1, 2004

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EAST LANSING, Mich. -

COMING UP: Michigan State men's (2-4) and women's (0-4) swimming and diving returns to competition Friday-Sunday, Dec. 3-5 as it travels to Athens, Ga., to compete in the Georgia Invitational.

SCOUTING THE MEN'S FIELD: In addition to the Spartans and No. 16 Georgia, two more teams ranked in last week's CSCAA/NCAA Division I poll will compete this weekend at Georgia-- No. 6 Minnesota and No. 25 Florida State.

SCOUTING THE WOMEN'S FIELD: Top-ranked Georgia headlines four nationally ranked squads (No. 8 California, No. 21 Notre Dame and No. 22 Florida State are the others) competing in this weekend's meet.

COACH GIANIODIS ON THE GEORGIA INVITATIONAL: "We hope that we can perform well on a pretty big stage this weekend. The UGA women are the No. 1 team in the country, and there are going to be a few highly ranked schools competing there as well. On the men's side, Minnesota, the defending Big Ten Champion, will be there. Our team knows that the competition is going to be stiff, but I am hoping this experience will again help us in the spring."

LAST TIME OUT: The Spartan men earned a split at the Charles McCaffree Pool against No. 9 Michigan on Nov. 19 and Western Kentucky on Nov. 20. The Spartans fell to the Wolverines (133-112) in a Big Ten dual meet, and rebounded from a 12-point deficit to defeat the Hilltoppers (123-120).

Senior Justin Laskowski won four diving events and junior Ian Clutten captured three first-place finishes during the Spartans' homestand.

Laskowski claimed the one-meter (308.40) and three-meter (303.45) boards over Michigan, winning by an average of 10 points. His score in the one-meter against the Wolverines qualified him for the NCAA regionals.

Against Western Kentucky, Laskowski claimed the one-meter (270.82) by two points, cruising to his fourth win of the weekend in the three-meter (302.77).

Clutten set a NCAA `B' qualifying time after winning the 100 breaststroke (55.07) against Michigan. He also claimed the 200 individual medley (1:54.74) and 200 breast (2:06.31) titles in MSU's win over Western Kentucky.

The MSU `A' team of juniors Rudolf Wagenaar, Nick Harley, Matt Wisniewski and Clutten won the 200 medley relay (3:06.00) against UM and captured the 400 medley relay (3:21.48) over WKU.

HEADING DOWN SOUTH...AGAIN: State travels south for the second time this season to compete at a Southeastern Conference school as they faced Kentucky on Oct. 23. Last season, the Spartans competed at the Auburn Tiger Invitational in Auburn, Ala.

MSU SWIMMING AND DIVING SIGNS THREE TO NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT: MSU head coach Matt Gianiodis announced the signing of three swimmers to National Letters of Intent on Nov. 22. Joining the Spartans for the 2005-06 season are Krzysztof Olszewski (Torum, Poland), Kendall Barry (Portage, Mich./Portage Central) and Heather Kiluk (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville).

UP NEXT: Following this weekend's Georgia Invitational, the MSU men and women hosts Ball State on Dec. 11 at the Charles McCaffree Pool.