Michigan State Sweeps Kenyon (D3) on Senior Day

Michigan State Spartans vs. Kenyon Lords & Ladies (D3)

  • November 3rd, 2018
  • Lansing, Michigan
  • Meet Results
  • Meet Scores
    • Michigan State M def. Kenyon M 190-108
    • Michigan State W def. Kenyon W 191-108

After last year’s debacle, where the Kenyon women should’ve won against D1 opponents Michigan State but exhibitioned their way to a loss, the Spartans defending home turf mightily on senior day, beating their D3 opponents by 82 and 83 points in the men’s and women’s meets, respectively.

The Spartans men won 15 of the 16 events on offer at the meet.

Michigan State junior Scott Piper won both of the events he swam on the day in season-bests. First he topped the 200 fly in 1:51.29, beating Kenyon’s Jon Zimdars by half-a-second; and later he won the 400 IM in 4:04.11, using a big first half on his breaststroke leg to pull away from Kenyon’s Grant Thompson (4:06.04). That 400 IM, Piper’s first of the season, ranks him 18th in the Big Ten this season, and the 200 fly ranks him 21st. His 400 IM time is a whopping 4 seconds faster than he was at this same meet last season.

Jonathan Lee also doubled for Michigan State, winning the 100 breaststroke in 56.95 and the 200 breaststroke in 2:04.49. His lifetime best in the 200 breaststroke would already be good enough to be 4th in school history in the event, and even without a taper meet yet, his 2:03 from Saturday makes him the 7th-best freshman for Michigan State in the last decade.

The Michigan State women won 9 events out of a possible 16, though the Kenyon women swept the relays. In the opening 200 medley, the margin was just .03 seconds (with a .11-second advantage from Abby Wilson on the anchor leg making the difference as Kenyon pulled back from an early deficit).

The winning 1:44.59 for Kenyon is the 2nd-fastest in D3 nationally this season, behind only their arch-rivals Denison, who swam a 1:43.97 a night earlier in their own meet with a Big Ten opponent (Ohio State).

At the end of the meet, Kenyon swam a 3:28.36 in the 400 free relay, which this time won the race by a more comfortable second-and-a-half, and is the best D3 time in the country this season by almost the same amount. The relay included a 50.54-second anchor from Crile Hart.

Hart also won the 100 back (55.84) and 200 back (2:00.66), which are both the fastest D3 times in the country this season.

For Michigan State, Lucy Schenden, half of the twin freshman Schenden sisters, picked up her first intercollegiate win when, early in the meet, she won the 1000 free in 10:23.05. That gave her a 7-second margin of victory over teammate and fellow freshman Sarah Zochak (10:30.08).

Emily Brunett won a pair for the Spartans as well, topping the 200 fly in 2:07.05 and the 100 fly in 58.04.

Most of the Michigan State teams will swim a dual meet next weekend against Bowling Green while 2 men and 2 women travel to West Lafayette for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Kenyon will race another Big Ten opponent, Ohio State, on Friday, before a big rivalry meet with Denison on Saturday.

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Thirteenthwind
5 years ago

“Kenyon State”

Swimmer
5 years ago

Wow Kenyon didn’t even put up a fight

Dan
Reply to  Swimmer
5 years ago

Article says MSU women won 9 out of 16 events & Kenyon swept the relays. What is your definition of “putting up a fight”? Do you realize that 16-9=7?

Swimmer
Reply to  Dan
5 years ago

181-108 and 180-108
Do you realize that just winning a race doesn’t mean your team has depth. Obviously Kenyon was completely outmatched. But if you only care about the top swimmers on your team, then sure you did great bud.

Thirteenthwind
Reply to  Swimmer
5 years ago

Dual meet point scoring favors event wins over depth. So your point could be rephrased right back at MSU.

Dan
Reply to  Swimmer
5 years ago

One could also argue that a D1 team from a major conference should not lose 7 races and all the relays to a ANY D3 team.
If Michigan State won 7 races and all relays against Michigan then I would venture to say that MSU fans would categorize it as a huge success.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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