The Michigan State men's and women's swimming & diving teams swept a dual meet at Valparaiso Friday night, with the men's team winning, 131-71, and the Spartan women taking a 135-82 decision. Sophomore Joe Schmitt won the 200 IM and 100 breast to lead the men, while junior Heather Kiluk and sophomore Laura DeFord each won two events in the women's meet.

The MSU men touched the wall first in each of the 12 events while the women came from behind to win. Schmitt clocked a 1:58.21 in the 200 IM to give the Spartans their fifth win in as many events to put the dual scoring way out of reach. Schmitt later added a winning time of 59.25 in the 100 breast, but MSU had moved its athletes to exhibition scoring by then. Freshman Rickey Forrest and junior Michael VanBeek posted wins in the 1,000 free and the 200 free, respectively, to give MSU a huge lead early. Junior Mark Rogers also added a first-place effort in the 50 free with a time of 21.87.

Sophomores David Garry (327.10) and Ivan Zalessov (298.15) took the top spots in one-meter diving, and sophomore Sho Koba won the 100 fly (51.49). Fellow sophomore Marcus Poteete placed first in the 100 back (53.10) to close out the men's scoring before the Spartans began exhibition scoring the final events of the evening.

"We swam a lot of people in off-events," head coach Matt Gianiodis said. "This team has been through some adversity recently, and I am very proud with the way they responded and performed. Everyone was positive and we achieved what we came here to do tonight."

In the women's portion of the evening, Kiluk placed first in the 100 fly (59.06) and the 200 free (1:54.85) and DeFord added wins in the 200 IM (2:09.88) and the 500 free (5:10.39). The Spartan women were equally as dominant in their meet, winning nine of 12 events. Freshman Jordan Jackson registered a tally of 252.65 en route to winning the one-meter board, her first career victory. Sophomore Erinn Wertz took first in the 100 back (1:01.04) and fellow sophomore Sarah Biasello won the 100 breast (1:06.20). MSU also won both women's relays, with freshmen Stephanie Fisher and Rebecca Ebner competing in each event.

Valpo got off to a strong start as Grace Arnold (Glendora, Calif./Glendora H.S.) won the 1,000 freestyle for the Brown and Gold. The freshman touched the wall in 11:03.45, winning the event by more than eight seconds.

Valpo's Becky Crabtree (Mason, Ohio/Mason H.S.) and Rachel Majercik (Schaumburg, Ill./Conant H.S.) went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle, putting the Crusaders in the lead through four events. Crabtree turned in the third fastest time in school history with a time of 24.58 seconds, while Majercik was just .08 seconds behind her teammate.

Jaclyn Krause (Rochester, Mich./Notre Dame Prep H.S.) and Majercik went 1-2 to for the Brown and Gold in the 100 free. Krause reached the wall in 54.50 seconds, out-touching her teammate by just .02 seconds.

"We swam Michigan State very competitively and had several personal bests as well as three first place finishes,” said interim head coach Barbara Tyree. “I am really proud of them.”

“We had some personal bests today, and I feel like we swam well after coming off of the winter break,” Tyree said. “We are right where we should be this time of year in preparation for the conference meet in five weeks.”

 

Valparaiso will wrap up the home portion of the 2007-2008 season on Saturday, January 19 at the ARC pool against Eastern Illinois. The first event is set to begin at 2 p.m.MSU's weekend in Indiana continues with a dual at Purdue on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Spartans met Purdue in a quad meet at Penn State earlier this season, with the Boilermakers coming out ahead in both the men's and women's competitions.