Close loss for MSU women's swim team comes down to last race

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On Friday, the MSU women’s swimming and diving team was neck and neck with Illinois — it all came down to the last race.

Tied before the last race, the girls needed to come in first in the 4×100 freestyle relay to pull ahead and win the meet. MSU was about 4 seconds too slow, finishing the race with a time of 3:32.14, while Illinois finished the relay in a time of 3:28.29.

The Spartans suffered a 9-point loss against the Fighting Illini, 154.5-145.5, at McCaffree Pool at IM Sports-West.

Although the women did not win the meet, the team had a great performance, head coach Matt Gianiodis said.

“The only thing I’m disappointed in is that we started pretty slowly,” Gianiodis said. “We lost three of the first four events, and that put us in the situation where we were battling behind the rest of the night.”

Gianiodis said he was proud of how the women performed, especially junior Jenny Rusch, who took first in the 200 butterfly and 100 freestyle, junior Alexandra Pierce, who came in first in the 200 individual medley and freshman Becca Berman, who finished first in the 1,000 freestyle. Senior Kerry Sodonis also swam well, coming out on top in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 breaststroke.

Rusch said the team was expecting a competitive race. Although the team did not come out on top, it still had a great day.

“Being in our home pool, swimming against a very good team, we’re very well-matched with them,” Rusch said. “It was an exciting meet and an exciting day.”

But Pierce said the team still has a lot of work to do to get ready for Big Ten competition.

“I think we need to work more in practice on finishing the races,” Pierce said. “We need to make sure we’re over-kicking and working to get to that wall.”

Although the swimmers struggled at the beginning of the meet, the divers had a strong start, senior Jordan Jackson said.

Jackson nearly set a new school record for the 3-meter dive and finished first in the event with a score of 374.78 points.

After a successful meet Friday, Jackson feels her improvements in the 3-meter dive have brought her closer to achieving her goals for the season.

“My ultimate goal is to make it to NCAA’s this year,” Jackson said. “It’s always a goal in the back of my mind. Now I feel like I can actually make it there.”

Jackson’s teammate, senior Sarah Clay, also achieved her individual goal for the day, breaking a score of 300 points in both the 1-meter dive and the 3-meter dive.

Overall, Gianiodis was proud of both the swimmers and divers performances. He is optimistic about the future meets, especially the Big Ten.

“Their work ethic is unbelievable,” Gianiodis said. “Each week you want to get better and better, and that’s what they’ve been doing.”

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