Oct. 10, 2008

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's swimming and diving team will open the 2008 season Saturday (Oct. 11) when it hosts Minnesota at 2 p.m.

Here is a look ahead at the Spartans' upcoming season:

Without one senior on last season's roster, the 2008-09 Michigan State women's swimming and diving team is ready for several upperclassmen to step up and lead. The lack of seniors last season allowed several young swimmers to compete in more events and gain valuable experience in the always tough Big Ten Conference. With four, full classes, the Spartans will have the depth and experience to be competitive in all events this season.

"We have a good, solid senior class of women who stayed here this summer, trained hard and had good summers in terms of performance," said head coach Matt Gianiodis. "Those women were leaders as juniors last year so this is the second time around for them."

With so much experience returning this season, Gianiodis is excited about the depth and experience of this year's team.

"Last year, especially at the Big Ten Championships, we had to use the same people in a number of events," Gianiodis explained. "We had people that swam on a lot of relays so it was draining for them. Now that we have a full compliment of classes, it will be interesting to see how that works this year."

The balance of swimmers among classes adds to the team's competitiveness, which, combined with the experience, gives the Spartans a bright outlook heading into this year.

Here is an event-by-event breakdown of the 2008-09 Spartans:

Sprint Freestyle

Last season, senior Julie Kahn and junior Erin Wertz, had what Gianiodis described as a "breakout years," and they will be counted on heavily again this year. Kahn finished recorded her best time of the year at the Big Ten Championships (51.97) in the 100 meter free and took part in four other events at the meet. Erinn Wertz saw action in seven events at last year's Big Ten Championships and swam team season-bests in the 50 free (23.74) and 100 free (51.72). The Spartans are also expecting contributions from incoming freshmen Abby Nelson and Laura Leslie. While Nelson's biggest strength lies in butterfly, she will also be counted on to contribute right away in freestyle. A four-year All-American selection in high school, Gianiodis expects Nelson to have an immediate impact.

Mid-Distance Freestyle

Throughout her career, the Spartans have heavily relied on Heather Kiluk in several events. Last season was no different as the senior posted several first-place finishes in multiple events and was named MSU's Swimmer of the Year.

Junior Mara Loniewski also competed well for the Spartans last season in the mid-distance free events and was a key ingredient in the all freestyle relay events.

Another bright spot last season was the 800-meter relay team of Kiluk, Loniewski, Marlys Fuqua and Stephanie Fisher set a varsity record by breaking the 7:30 mark at the Big Ten Championships. The Spartans hope last year's stong relay performances will translate into individual success in the middle-distance events.

Distance Freestyle

If there is one area where this year's team lacks depth, it is in distance freestyle events. However, senior Marlys Fuqua, recipient of the last two year's Spartan of the Year awards, is one of the Spartans' strongest and most experienced swimmers.

"Marlys holds this event down for us and she'll have to hold it down almost all by herself this year," Gianiodis said.

Last season, she registerd MSU season-best and top-10 varsity times in 500 and 1,000 free.

Breaststroke

Two key breaststrokers who carried a majority of the load last season, juniors Laura DeFord and Sarah Biasello return this year. Breaststroke is one event where the Spartans have a considerable amount of experience and depth.

"We have a group that needs to step up and do the job. We have women on the team that have the ability to do it and now they have to do it," Gianiodis explained.

Last season, Biasello proved she has the ability to to be a top breastroker with eight top-three finishes. She also turned in the team's top time of the year in the 200 breast.

DeFord is one of team's most versatile swimmers with breaststroke being one of her strongest events.

Should one or more individuals emerge from this group, all the pieces will be in place for a strong medley relay team.

Freshman Carrie Sodonis will also see time in the breaststroke event. As a high school junior, she earned All-American honors in the 100 breast.

Butterfly

The team's butterfly will likely be lead by a pair of underclassmen in sophomore Becka Ebner and Nelson.

"Becka Ebner had a great year for us last year," Gianiodis said. "She was awesome in the 100 and 200 meter events."

As a freshman last season, Ebner swam the team's top times of the year in the 100 and 200 fly.

Nelson brings strong credentials to the fly events, having won the Missouri state championship in the 100 fly as a freshman and senior.

Backstroke

The Spartans excelled last season in backstroke and Gianiodis expects this year's corps to continue their success.

"Heather Kiluk, Abby Nelson, Stephanie Fisher and Sasha Lawerenze are all good backstrokers," said Gianiodis.

Fisher was named Freshman of Year last season and posed the team's quickest times of the year in the 100 and 200 back. Both times were good for varsity all-time top-10 marks. She also scored for MSU in last year's Big Ten Championships in the 100-meter event.

Gianiodis will also be looking for contributions from other returning swimmers.

"Sasha Lewerenz almost scored for us at the Big Ten Championships as a freshman last year and she is coming off a pretty good summer," noted Gianiodis.

Lewerenz will look to springboard off her strong summer into becoming a consistent scorer for MSU in the backstroke events.

Individual Medley

While the Spartans are not tremendously deep in the IM events, they do have one of the program's best ever in the IM back for one more season. As a junior last season, Kiluk set two varsity records in the 200 and 400 IM. With three school records under her belt, Kiluk will look to lead MSU in the IM events once again this season.

Diving

Like last season, diving will again be the team's strongest area of competition. Senior standout Danielle Williams placed seventh at this year's Canadian Diving Olympic Trials in the open three-meter finals. In her junior year, Williams took sixth in the three-meter diving at the Big Ten Championships and added a 13th-place finish in one-meter diving.

"We have a strong returning team with Danielle and Alicia Mokedanz leading the way," said diving coach Eric Best.

Mokedanz earned three first-place finishes last season prior to scoring in the top 16 on both the one and three-meter boards at the Big Ten Championships.

While Williams and Mokedanz have the most experience and will be counted on to lead the team, sophomore Jordan Jackson also expects to contribute after finishing strong last season. Despite being just a sophomore, Jackson may be the Spartans most explosive diver.

"Jordan had hardly any diving experience in high school and she actually finished better in the Big Ten Championships than she did in high school," Best said.

The Spartans will expect even more from Jackson this season, after training with Australian Olympic coaches this past summer.

Freshman Sarah Clay brings a solid resume to MSU, taking third in the Indiana state high school championships last year as well as being a U.S. national qualifier.

"Sarah is probably the most fully developed diver that we've had come into the program since I've been here," said Best.

Another freshman, Ashley Borgman, will also look for her chance to compete this year, along with walk-ons Andrea Blohm and Brooke Sauchak.

Schedule

Unlike last season, when the Spartans had just two home meets, this year's team will have the opportunity to swim in their home pool six times this season. MSU has 10 dual meets this season and two multi-team invitationals at Northwestern and Notre Dame, respectively. Perennial Big Ten power Minnesota visits East Lansing on Oct. 11 for the first meet of the year. Despite taking on the conference's toughest opponent in the season-opener, Gianiodis is pleased with this year's schedule.

"We have so many opportunities for competition, especially in the first semester. I'm really, really happy with the way that part of our schedule panned out," Gianiodis said.

In addition to the Gophers, Big Ten foes Iowa, Purdue and Michigan all visit East Lansing, as well as non-conference opponents Houston and Ball State. The Spartans will visit Illinois, Grand Valley State, North Carolina State and Oakland for dual meets.

"It's a comprehensive, balanced schedule that should give our team multiple opportunities to swim well and swim different events," said Gianiodis.