Last Saturday, the women's swimming and diving team was hoping to extend its nine-meet win streak and pull off its biggest victory in recent history.
The Cardinals met their match, however, in a dual meet at East Lansing, Mich., as they were upended by Michigan State. The Spartans claimed all but two of the events to secure their third win of the season, 139-102.
"They were tired after going to classes again and trying to get back into the routine," head coach, Laura Seibold-Caudill said. "We were also tired from Christmas training, but I think we could have done a lot better. We have to swim better."
In the losing effort, freshman Jenna Arnold notched first place in the 200-meter butterfly relay. Senior Melissa Keilen placed first (53.42 seconds) in the 100-meter freestyle, while her sophomore teammate Sarah King finished second (53.44).
Freshman Michelle Braden and sophomore Karla Bailey also finished 1-2 in the 200-meter breaststroke. Nonetheless, the event did not count towards the Cardinal's final tally as the host team designated that the first school to reach 125 points would win the event. After the Spartans had reached the 125-point minimum, all the remaining events were run as exhibitions.
"I thought we would be able to compete with them," Seibold-Caudill said. "We just did not swim well. Individually there were some people who performed well, but we have to be more consistent."
Seibold-Caudill, a 1976 graduate of Michigan State, said extended training over Christmas break could have played a part in the team's performance at East Lansing. She said she also noticed that the swimmers tended not to be as mentally focused as normal and said the first week of classes may have still been weighing heavily on their minds while competing.
"We have to be more focused on racing," she said.
The veteran coach said that she intends to spend the week in practice, working to prepare swimmers to be more competitive and helping them, to stay focused for longer amounts of time.
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