Last Tuesday, Michigan State”s men”s basketball team came into Crisler Arena and embarrassed its opponents as well as the home crowd.
If you are a Michigan fan still depressed over the loss, the men”s swimming meet this past Saturday may have provided a little redemption.
The Wolverines traveled up to East Lansing with a 3-0 record in the Big Ten. Michigan was looking to finish the season with an undefeated conference record like it had done an astonishing 41 times before.
Much like last week”s on-court slaughter, the competition at McCaffree Pool in East Lansing was over as soon as it began.
U.S. Olympic medallist Chris Thompson led the Michigan charge with a first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.
Following behind him were three other Wolverines that captured the next three spots. Only after four Michigan swimmers had done so, did a Michigan State swimmer touch the wall.
The 200-yard breaststroke was no different. Senior G.J. Zann led the charge with a first-place time of 2:04.86. Trailing behind him was another pack of Wolverines with the Spartans only able to salvage a fifth-place finish. Michigan racked up a total of 133 points, its second highest all year.
The massacre spread to the diving boards when freshmen Jason Coben completed a spectacular season with two first-place finishes. His three-meter diving score of 327.90 was high enough to qualify him a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Many Michigan fans feel that when the Spartans left the basketball court on Tuesday night, they owned Crisler Arena. Well, when the Wolverines left McCaffree Pool, they, too, took a little piece of it for themselves. Two Spartan records were broken, their names replaced with ones of their archrivals.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Jordan Watland, Scott Werner, Tony Kurth and Matt Raines left their mark with a time of 1:31.48.
Two-time NCAA champion Tim Siciliano also embedded his time in the record books with a 1,000-yard freestyle split time of 9:10.06 in the 1,650 freestyle. Michigan State swimmer Ian Mull previously held the record at 9:10.14.
When Michigan headed home, its undefeated season was intact. It had demoralized the Spartans with a 133-95 win.
The strength of both schools” basketball programs has teetered through the years, but the overall 64-5 advantage the Wolverines have in the pool is a little more permanent.