Fueled by home-crowd cheers, the Northwestern men’s swimming and diving team scored an emphatic conference victory over Michigan State in the team’s final home meet of the season.
With the 131-111 victory on Friday night, the Wildcats improved their record to 3-1 overall in dual meets and 1-1 in the Big Ten.
Early in the meet, fans in attendance at the Norris Aquatics Center were treated to a nail-biting 1000-yard freestyle race, which was decided by .07 seconds. NU junior Dave Hersh’s time of 9:25.30 defeated Michigan State swimmer Joe Brennan’s 9:25.37. The rest of the competition finished more than 15 seconds behind.
“We needed something to set the tone for the rest of the meet,” NU senior Nick Barnes said. “The race started out with Hersh so far ahead, but (Brennan) kept gaining on him. In the end, it came down to who wanted it more.”
Junior Mike Shue was on fire for the Cats throughout the evening. He won the 500 free in a season-best time of 4:27.72, just .04 seconds off the 11-year-old pool record. The competition in the 200 free was also no match for Shue – he won that event, as well.
On the diving board, senior Elliot Massuda landed in first place in the 1-meter event with a score of 282.43. Massuda, the only diver representing NU at the meet, placed third in the 3-meter.
In relay action, the Cats’ 200 medley team swam a season-best time of 1:32.98. Barnes, freshman Nick Eggen, sophomore Aaron McCracken and junior Kellan O’Connor outswam the Michigan State foursome, winning by just under three seconds.
NU landed a key sweep midway through the meet in the 200 butterfly, with O’Connor leading the Cats in a time of 1:48.17. Sophomore Mark Hamming took second with a 1:49.38, and freshman Phil Mercier finished third, swimming a 1:56.69.
Continuing the streak of NU victories, sophomore Tony Swanson took both the 200 backstroke (1:51.23) and the 200 individual medley (1:50.78). In each of Swanson’s victories, he finished about six seconds ahead of the competition.
McCracken blew the 200 breaststroke competition out of the water, winning by more than nine seconds over Michigan State’s Dave Sloan. With a 2:04.21, McCracken shaved .7 seconds off his season-best time.
The Cats were tops in short-distance freestyle races, as well, with Barnes winning the 50 free in 21.26 seconds. In the 100 free, NU sophomore Shelby Clark beat out Michigan State’s Peter Politi, 47.40 to 47.69.
Only two of the night’s events were won by Michigan State. Patrick Sheahan-Stahll claimed the 3-meter dive with a top score of 265.73, and the Spartans’ 200 free relay won with a time of 1:25.78.
NU’s dominance may be attributable to a Michigan State mental lapse, Barnes suggested.
“Sometimes when a team enters another team’s pool and loses the first few events, the team collapses,” Barnes said.
NU seniors Barnes, Massuda, Jeff Blatnik, Adam Kennedy and Chris Meyer ended their career of home swim meets on a high note.
“It’s bittersweet and kind of sad to have swum my last meet here, but I’ve done my three-and-a-half, almost four years,” Barnes said. “My time at Northwestern is coming to a close, but we won almost every single event we entered (against the Spartans).”
