Michigan State University
Northwestern Invite
Spartans Start Strong at Northwestern TYR Invitational
11/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Michigan State swimming and diving teams started strong at the Northwestern TYR Invitational. In the preliminary rounds on Friday morning, the Spartans came away with the fastest time in five of the 10 events. The Spartans came away winners of five finals. After the first day of competition, the men lead with a score of 419 and the women are in second with a score of 287, trailing Northwestern.
"I thought we swam and dove very well tonight," said head coach Matt Gianiodis. "We are getting a lot of things accomplished. I feel that Alec Kandt and Shelby Lacy did very well tonight. Tomorrow is another day, so we will see what we can do."
The Spartan women took the top three spots on the women's 3-meter diving event. Senior Alison Menzies took first place with a score of 307.15. Senior Cristee Cordes took second with 298.70 and sophomore Madeline Sewell took third with 277.30.
In the men's 1-meter diving event, the Spartans took two of the top three places. Sophomore Brennan LaBar took second with a score of 289.25 and junior Charles Maurer took third with 275.05.
In the women's 50 breaststroke, senior Shelby Lacy finished in first place with a time of 28.52. Sophomore Kennedy Cutler finished in third with 29.44. Cutler was the fastest Spartan in the 200 IM finals, taking fifth place, with a time of 2:05.23
Sophomore Alec Kandt found success in the men's 50 breaststroke. Kandt finished first with a time of 25.21.
The Spartan men dominated in the 200 IM, coming away winners of four of the top five spots. Kandt notched his second victory of the night, finishing at 1:49.29. Freshman Tal Hanani took second (1:50.05), Nate Weeks took third (1:50.72), and freshman Connor Lamb took fifth (1:52.56).
Michigan State finished the night winning the men's 400 medley relay. The team of freshman Alex Trompke, Kandt, junior Jacob Moore, and freshman Lachie McLeish finished at 3:15.46
In the first preliminary event of the day, Lacy recorded the fastest time in the 50 freestyle. Lacy clocked in at 28.33, her fastest time in her career. Cutler also posted her best time at Michigan State, finishing in second with a time of 29.40.
Kandt posted his career best 50 freestyle time in the preliminary round at 25.16, taking first place. A trio of Spartans recorded fourth, fifth, and sixth fastest time of the preliminary round with freshman Nick Leshok (25.86), junior Ian Rodriguez (26.23), and junior Jacob Cook (26.44).
The women's 500 freestyle saw a lot of season best records being broken. All of the Spartans posted the lowest time of the season to date. Michigan State was led by freshman Rebecca Hannon, who finished in 9th place, recording a time of 4:58.46. Senior Becca Berman finished in 10th at 4:58.46 and senior Hannah Pugh finished 11th with 4:59.26.
The men's 500 freestyle prelims saw six Spartans in the top 10. The Green and White were led by sophomore Jon Burke, who recorded the fastest time in the prelims of 4:26.74. Freshman Joes Szczupakiewicz finished in third (4:30.19), freshman Lachie McLeish in fourth (4:31.16), Lamb in fifth (4:31.21), freshman Mitch Strahlman (4:35.89) in ninth, and sophomore Adam Henley in 10th (4:36.57).
In the women 200 IM prelims, junior Elizabeth Brown was the fastest Spartan, with a time of 2:05.49, giving her the sixth fastest time. Two Spartans finished in the top 10 and broke their career best times while doing so, Cutler finished in seventh (2:05.63) and freshman Mia Baric finished in eighth (2:06.17).
Eight Spartans finished in the top 10 of the men's 200 IM prelims. Kandt took his second prelim victory of the day with a time of 1:49.71, his best time at Michigan State. Hanani finished behind in second with a time of 1:51.38. Rounding up the top 10 were Lamb in fourth (1:51.66), freshman Nate Weeks in fifth (1:52.66), Cook in sixth (1:52.78), Strahlman in ninth (1:53.52), and Rodriguez 10th (1:53.52).
In the 50 freestyle prelims, Lacy posted her best time at Michigan State with a 23.70 finish, good enough for the fifth best time in the prelims. Freshman Racheal Bukowski also posted her best time with 23.84, finishing eighth. On the men's side, McLeish was the fastest time for Michigan State, taking the fifth fastest time, with 21.02.
The Spartans return back to action tomorrow morning at the Northwestern TYR Invitational.
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Players Mentioned
