MSU vs Kenyon Dual
- Saturday, October 28th
- James Steen Natatorium, Gambier, OH
- Short course yards
- Results
Team Scores
Women
- MSU: 151
- Kenyon: 149
Men
- MSU: 159.5
- Kenyon: 137.5
Kenyon College’s renowned D3 program almost grabbed a victory over the Big 10’s Michigan State, with their women only dropping the meet by 2 points and the men by 22. This came the night after Kenyon squared off against Ohio State, another Big 10 opponent, where they lost by a combined 438-154.
In a peculiar turn of events, Kenyon’s bid for the women’s meet was stopped just short when MSU’s A 200 free relay team was DQ’d, allowing the Lords to win the event with a time of 1:36.56. The Spartans were able to hold on for the win after the disqualification because Kenyon’s 200 free relay B team swam exhibition, instead of swimming for points. The Kenyon B relay would have placed 2nd, adding 4 points to Kenyon’s total and subtracting 2 from MSU’s, and Kenyon would have won the meet 153-149. While exhibitioning swims to keep scores competitive (often in a ruse to fool unwitting ADs), in this case, Kenyon’s exhibitioning of swims actually cost them a meet victory. Both coaches declined to comment on-the-record about the reasoning behind the exhibition of that relay, and several other peculiar exhibition swims throughout the meet (including Kenyon’s Sophia Kuvan in the 200 free, who would’ve placed 2nd otherwise).
Hannah Orbach-Mandel of Kenyon won the 200 free in a time of 1:51.16, which is the fastest NCAA Division 3 time this year.
Press Release – Kenyon:
GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College men’s swimming and diving team battled a second Big Ten opponent in as many days. After absorbing defeat at The Ohio State University on Friday night, the Lords returned home Saturday afternoon to square off with the Michigan State University Spartans, who came away with a 159.5-137.5 win.
Kenyon got off to a good start against the Spartans by winning three of the first four events. After Michigan State won the meet-opening 400-yard medley relay, Kenyon sophomore Connor Rumpit nailed down a first-place swim in the 1,000-yard freestyle by clocking in at 9:33.07.
In the next two events, Reilly Shields and Ben Baturka, also sophomores, tacked on two more Kenyon wins. Shields took the 200-yard freestyle in 1:42.37 and then Baturka won the 100-yard backstroke in 51.10.
Michigan State came back with a win in the 100-yard breaststroke, but Kenyon answered with a Jon Zimdars‘ victory in the 200-yard butterfly. Zimdars, a junior, claimed the top spot by turning in a time of 1:52.74.
Kenyon got two more individual event wins, including one more from Rumpit, who swept the distance events by winning the 500-yard freestyle in 4:37.43. The other victory came from Kieran Allsop, yet another sophomore, who dialed up a 2:09.08 to win the 200-yard breaststroke.
In the diving well, Kenyon junior Ryder Sammons was in charge. He won the one-meter competition with a score of 266.25 and then won on the three-meter board with a score of 249.45.
Michigan State closed things out with three straight event wins to secure the team victory.
The Lords (0-2) get back to NCAA Division III competition in two weeks. They’ll host rival Denison University on Saturday, November 11 at 10 a.m.
Press Release – Michigan State:
EAST LANSING, Mich.–Michigan State swimming and diving beat Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio today. The women beat the Division III CSCAA nationally ranked Ladies (No. 3) 151-149 and the men beat the No. 1 ranked Lords 159.5-137.5.
The Spartans took home 16 first-place finishes, a season-best. “We performed much better than yesterday. I was very impressed with Racheal (Bukowski). Nick (Leshok) performed very well, along with Ellie Roche and one of our freshmen, Marie Dickson. The divers on our women’s team did great as well. We’re still looking to continue to grow, too,” head coach Matt Gianiodis said.
The women started things off in the 400 medley relay with a first place finish. Cathryn Armstrong, Ana Sortland, Iana Wolff and Racheal Bukowskiclocked in at 3:49.89. The men’s team of Alex Trompke, Nick Leshok, Michael Schwers and Payton Woods finished in first in the same event with a time of 3:24.98.
Haley Kornburger won the 1000 freestyle, with a season-best time of 10:25.39.
Senior Nick Leshok finished first in the 100 breaststroke, touching the pad at 57.37, and in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.58.
Racheal Bukowski took home victories in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle as she did yesterday, Oct. 27. She clocked in at 23.78 in the 50 free, and 52.27 in the 100 free.
Michael Schwers also repeated last night with a first place finish in the 100 butterfly. Payton Woods took home the 50 freestyle, clocking in at 21.12.
Sophomore Scott Piper won the 200 backstroke and the 400 IM, clocking in at 1:53.83 and 4:08.11 in the respective events.
In the 200 breaststroke, Ellie Roche finished first with a time of 2:21.63.
Freshman Marie Dickson won the 400 IM with a time of 4:34.48, making this her first event title of her college career.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Nick Leshok, Payton Woods, Nehemiah Mork and Michael Schwers finished the meet off strong with a first place finish, clocking in at 1:23.94.
On the women’s diving team, Morgan Wellenzohn, Amanda Ling and Erin Neely grabbed first, second and third place, in that order, in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives. Wellenzohn’s score of 315.75 in the 3-meter is a personal best.
For the men, Nolan Gutenschwager placed second in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives with scores of 248.55 and 231.30, respectively.
The Spartans are back in action at home on Friday, Nov. 10 as the women take on Bowling Green at 6 p.m.
Was one of the women on the EXH Kenyon relay added to get her a split, after she’d completed all of her other events?
There are many D-3 programs that offer a great combination of top academics, financial aid support, small-classroom feel, and, in many cases, facilities just as good or better than D-I Universities. Colleges like Grinnell, Kenyon, Denison, Emory, Ithaca, MIT, Middlebury, Chicago, and Williams come to mind. Kenyon attracts students with academic records that could get them into places like Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Colgate, etc. If these swimmers are as committed to their swimming as they are to their academics, I’d imagine that Kenyon would have a significant edge, considering that the Kenyon pool is… Read more »
No disagreement. But MSU has to pump in as much money into their women’s programs as their men’s. I guarantee those D1 Ivy’s don’t pump nearly as much as MSU. Because women don’t have football, the women’s swim teams usually have more money to work with than their men’s program (if they even have a men’s program). Just saying it is sad that MSU lost to Kenyon given the massive advantage
The money I am talking about is scholarships, by the way
Was this a truce so the AD doesn’t see one of his teams lose to a D3 team? A D1 girls program, especially a B1G program, should never be close to a D3 team, no matter how good they are. They just have way too much scholarship money. How on earth does this coach have a job?
I think Kenyon could beat a lot of D1 programs….being D1 doesn’t automatically make you good. And Kenyon has such a strong reputation/history in swimming that many athletes choose to go there over a lower tier D1 school.
I agree. However, MSU is in the B1G. A team in a power conference shouldn’t be having close meets with even the best D3 program. Also, Power conferences get a lot of funding for their girls programs. Guys losing to lower divisions isn’t ridiculous, but because of Title IX, a power conference girl’s program has a huge advantage over lower divisions
i get your point on scholarship $ but i would argue more that a guys team should never lose to a D3 school. there are so many more D1 girls programs that they tend to get diluted (unless your Cal or Stanford, etc.).
While I agree that a Big Ten team(on name alone) shouldnt lose to a d3 school (even though Kenyon is historically great). We shouldnt expect that for all d1 over d3 schools. For example Ball state is a Div 1 mens program that has not had scholarships for over a decade. It is a team of walkons, and I would expect a Kenyon, Denison, or Emory to beat them. Point is that a d1 tag has no reflection on the team itself. Very few mens teams are fully funded especially at the Mid-Major level, and the academic discounts that a d3 school can give can often times make it more affordable for the student athlete
go balls!
That was exactly it. Not sure I agree with it though. Everyone can now figure out what happened. Kenyon girls should have been allowed to win. This is not grade school.
I hope that’s not the case (i.e. so the AD doesn’t see his or her team lose). MSU shouldn’t schedule a meet against a D3 team if they aren’t willing to lose to that team.
Lmao state…. go bucks go lords
Someone get Robert Mueller on the case!!!
Poor strategy with exhibitioning and points = Deserves to lose.
Zero sympathy.
Sko lords
RIP Mr. Lahey. You will be missed dearly. Also, sko Lords and Ladies
I didn’t know this scourge of athletic competition occurred at the NCAA level. I’m familiar with HS associations requiring “managing the score” but hoped it didn’t persist at the collegiate level. What a shame. If only today’s society were exposed to winning and losing. Maybe we wouldn’t be overborne with such a soft citizenry.