Michigan Men & Women Finish Off Regular Season With Sweep of MSU

Michigan vs Michigan State

• Full Results
• Saturday, February 4th
• Hosted by Michigan State
• 25 yards
• Dual Meet Format
• Men’s Score: Michigan 160, MSU 90
• Women’s Score: Michigan 173, MSU 80

In both teams final dual meet of the season, the Michigan Wolverines swept the Michigan State Spartans with decisive victories for both the men and women. The men won 13 of 14 events to top MSU 160-90, while the Wolverine women won all 14 events to win 173-80.

Yirong Bi led the charge on the women’s side with a pair of victories in the 400 IM and 100 breaststroke, and other notable names Gabby DeLoof (50 free), Gillian Ryan (200 free) and Siobhan Haughey (200 free) also picked up individual wins.

Chris Klein led the way for the men with a pair of wins in the 50 breast and 100 IM. Other notable winners for the Wolverines were Paul Powers (50 back), Felix Aubock (500 free), and Charlie Swanson (400 IM).

Both teams will now prepare for the Big Ten Championships. The women’s meet takes place February 15th-18th, and the men’s the 22nd-25th.

Press Releases

Michigan Men

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In its final dual meet of the season, the No. 7-ranked University of Michigan men’s swimming and diving team won 13 of 14 events in a 160-90 victory over Michigan State on Saturday (Feb. 4) at McCaffree Pool.

With the Big Ten Championships a few weeks away, the meet provided each team an opportunity to swim different student-athletes in different events. Ten different swimmers won an individual event, headlined by senior Chris Klein, who won both the 50-yard breaststroke (25.30) and 100-yard IM (50.17).

Arguably the best race of the day came in the 100-yard backstroke, where freshman Rob Zofchak out-touched Michigan State’s Lachlan McLeish by less than a tenth-of-a-second (50.37).

The Wolverines went 1-2-3 in a pair of events. Freshman Charlie Swanson headlined the effort in the 400-yard IM (3:51.67), while classmate Miles Smachlo won the 200-yard freestyle (1:38.84).

Other individual winners included junior Paul Powers in the 50-yard backstroke (22.78), senior Vinny Tafuto in the 50-yard butterfly (21.83), freshman James Jones in the 100-yard butterfly (48.55) and freshman Felix Auböck in the 500-yard freestyle (4:27.61). Michigan also won the 400-yard medley relay (3:17.17) and the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:20.84).

In the diving well, freshman Steven Anderson picked up his NCAA Zone Diving cut, winning three-meter (324.00). Sophomore Collin DeShaw took home the one-meter title (304.88).

Members of the team will compete at the Michigan First Chance Meet in two weeks (Feb. 18-19) at Canham Natatorium. Action begins at 11 a.m. on both days.

Michigan Women

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan women’s swimming and diving team put the finishing touches on a strong regular season, winning all 14 events in a 173-80 road win over Michigan State on Saturday (Feb. 4) at McCaffree Pool.

Sophomore Yirong Bi won two events, including a victory in the 400-yard IM by more than 10 seconds (4:16.23). She also won the 100-yard breaststroke — an off event for a distance swimmer — in 1:03.90.

Three freshmen picked up their first collegiate wins against Michigan State: Annalisa Perez in the 50-yard breaststroke (29.34), Monica Babits in the 100-yard butterfly (56.47) and Jacqui Schafer in the 100-yard backstroke (56.74). Schafer won her race by more than four seconds. Also of note was sophomore Katie Duggan picking up her first win of the season in the 500-yard freestyle (4:56.96).

The team’s anchors also got first-place finishes on Saturday. Junior Gabby DeLoof led a 1-2-3 charge in the 50-yard backstroke (25.56), while freshman Vanessa Krause won the 50-yard butterfly (24.59). Other winners included junior G Ryan in the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.67) and sophomore Siobhán Haughey in the 100-yard IM (55.83). The Wolverines also won the 400-yard medley relay (3:41.30) and 200-yard freestyle relay (1:33.16).

Senior Allie Murphy looked sharp in her victory on three-meter, scoring 320.70, a season best. Freshman Kristen Haydenwon one-meter (297.15).

With the regular season done, Michigan now readies to defend its crown at the Big Ten Championships, to be held from Feb. 15-18 in West Lafayette, Indiana. Outside of the first night, preliminaries are to be held at 11 a.m. and event finals at 6 p.m.

Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State swimming and diving teams dropped its contests to Michigan, Feb. 4. The men fell by a score of 160-90, while the women dropped their meet 173-80. The Spartans raced at home for the final time of the season and the team honored their 11 seniors for their dedication to the program throughout the meet.

“Overall, I thought we swam well. I thought we had a good personal day,” said head coach Matt Gianiodis. “We had a lot of season-bests. It was nice to do well for our seniors. They mean a lot, and they have done a lot of things for this program over the years. They’ve really made what I consider a championship level culture.”

Senior Kennedy Cutler earned the first second-place finish for the women’s team in the 50-yard breaststroke. She finished with a time of 29.69, and earned four points for the Spartans. Sophomore Ana Sortland was also in the race, taking fourth-place.

Freshman Kennedy Truex picked up a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle for a final time of 1:54.26. Freshman Iana Wolff raced to a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, touching the pad at 58.21. Sophomore Courtney Aycock was also in the race and took third place.

In the distance events, junior Haley Kornburger raced to a third-place finish with a final time of 5:00.10 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Sophomores Ana Sortland and Ellie Roche raced to second and third-place finishes with times of 1:04.33 and 1:04.69, respectively. Sophomore Brina Kari recorded a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke.

On the diving piece, senior Madeline Sewell garnered a third-place finish in the one-meter diving with a score of 269.78, and in the three-meter dive sophomore Julia Oppedisano finished sixth.

The men began their meet with a close second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. In the order of team members, junior Alex Trompke, senior Alec Kandt, junior Nick Leshok and freshman Payton Woods touched the pad at 3:18.41.

Kandt had the highlight of the afternoon breaking a McCaffree Pool record in the 100-yard breaststroke. Kandt finished with a time of 53.45 in his first-place finish.

Junior Lachie McLeish garnered a second-place finish in the 50-yard backstroke with a finishing time of 23.52. In the 50-yard breaststroke, junior Nick Leshok also recorded a second-place finish with a time of 25.65.

Freshman Scott Piper garnered a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard IM, while junior Alex Duffy and freshman Phillip Meffert took fifth and sixth, respectively. Sophomore Gabe Whitaker picked up a third place in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 22.97.

Trompke placed in the top-three in all three of his events. He took second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.40 and in the 100-yard IM Trompke took third on a time of 52.14. McLeish picked up another second-place finish with a time of 50.45 in the 100-yard backstroke.

For the distance events, junior Joe Szczupakiewicz raced to a third-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:34.78.

The men concluded the day with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:22.33. In order, the team consisted of Leshok, Woods, McLeish and Kandt.

For the men’s diving, senior Brenna Labar took second in the one-meter dive with a final score of 300.90, while freshman Matthew De La Garza finished fifth on a score of 247.27. Labar also took third in the three-meter dive.

“We have to get a lot of rest before the Big Ten Championships,” said Gianiodis. “They need to try to stay healthy, try not to get sick but really for us our training is done. They’ve trained really hard for almost an entire calendar year and now we are feeling good for the Big Tens.”

Michigan State will now begin to gear up for the Big Ten Championships. The women’s championship weekend is Feb. 15-18, and the men will be a week after on Feb. 22-25.