Solid performances from Cross Country, Women’s Golf, Tennis, and Wrestling
Women’s Basketball opens tonight at Breslin at 6:30 PM. The game can be streamed on Big Ten +. The Spartans crushed Wayne State 101-40 in their only exhibition game last week.
Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images
Men’s and Women’s Cross Country were at the Big Ten Championships on Friday, November 1. This year’s championships were hosted by the University of Illinois and held on their Orange and Blue golf course. All 18 Big Ten schools have a women’s cross country program while 15 men’s programs competed. Overall, the MSU women finished 6th and the men took 4th place.
MSU freshman Rachel Forsyth finished 4th in the women’s 6000 meter race. Forsyth clocked a 19:26.2, just 1.2 seconds behind Ali Weimer of Minnesota who finished 3rd and 12.6 behind race winner Silan Ayyildiz from Oregon. The Ducks took the top two spots in the women’s race, with Maddy Elmore finishing just one second behind Ayyildiz, en route to the team championship.
In the men’s 8000 meter race, Andrew Nolan was MSU’s top finisher in 8th place with a time of 22:59.3 while Riley Hough was 18th at 23:08.4. Freshman Lezawe Osterink also brought home a top 25 finish for the Spartans in 23.14.2 Bob Liking of Wisconsin won the men’s race in 22:47.3 while Wisconsin also took home the men’s team championship.
Forsyth earned first team All Big Ten honors, as well as a spot on the all-freshman team, for her efforts while Kaitlyn Hynes made the second team with a 13th place finish in 19:42.2. Nolan earned first team honors for the men while Hough made the second team and Osterink came away with all-freshman honors.
The Spartans next race at the Great Lakes Regional in Norton, OH on November 15.
Women’s Golf concluded their fall season October 27 at the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, NC. MSU finished tied for 7th place out of 17 teams and were led by senior Brooke Bierman who placed tied for 5th overall with a 2 under par. Junior Taylor Kehoe shot even par and placed 13th while senior Katie Lu’s 1 over par was good for 16th overall.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
Field Hockey completed their season with a 1-0 loss at Indiana to finish 8-10 overall and 1-7 in conference play. This followed a 5-0 loss to Northwestern on October 27 but MSU was able to defeat #16 Iowa 2-1 on October 25.
Rowing will race in their final fall exhibition on November 9 in Columbus, OH with traditional Big Ten powers Ohio State and Indiana. Rowers train throughout the year with the primary competition season taking place from March through May.
Men’s Soccer fell to Rutgers 1-0 on Sunday for a disappointing end to their Senior Day. Rutgers scored in the 83rd minute. Michigan State had an opportunity to tie in the 90th minute with a penalty kick but the shot went wide of net. Seniors Zack Babiak, Efosa Emovon, Levin Gerhardt, Sean Kerrigan, and Shion Soga played their last game for the Green and White at DeMartin Stadium.
The Spartans enter the Big Ten tournament as the #5 seed with a 5-7-4 overall record and 4-4-2 in conference. MSU will play 4th seeded Washington on Thursday November 7 at 6 PM at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, IL. Should the Spartans win, they will face top-seeded Ohio State in the semifinals on November 10 at 5:30 PM. Both games will be streamed on Big Ten +.
Women’s Soccer also lost to Rutgers, falling 2-1 in overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament on Saturday. Michigan State scored in the very first minute to take the lead. Rutgers leveled the score in the 31st minute before a scoreless second half led to the sudden death overtime period. MSU had the first chance to score in overtime but didn’t convert. Rutgers ended it a minute later with a goal from Ashley Baran.
MSU came into the game ranked 16th and now must wait until 4 PM Monday November 11 to see their NCAA tournament assignment. The tournament selection show will stream on NCAA.com.
Men’s Tennis had a busy weekend at the Fighting Irish Mini Duals. Freshmen Mitchell Sheldon and Danial Rakhmatullayev went 3-2 in their doubles matches with wins against Michigan and twice against Notre Dame while losing twice to another doubles team from Notre Dame.
Sheldon also went 3-1 in his singles matches with wins against players from Michigan, Notre Dame, and Louisville. Rakhmatullayev also had singles wins against Michigan and Louisville.
MSU is spread all over the place this weekend, November 7-10, at the Big Ten Indoor Championships (Madison, WI), ITA Conference Masters (San Diego, CA), and ITA Sectionals (Waco, TX).
Women’s Tennis hosted the Spartan Invite last weekend, going 3-1 in both singles and doubles matches on Friday. The Spartans secured two more singles wins and another win in doubles play on Saturday before concluding action on Sunday with a 4-3 record in singles play.
MSU is next in action November 7-9 at the NCAA Sectional Championships. At the time of this writing, no other information about this match is available at msuspartans.com but should be released later in the week.
Volleyball dropped two matches over the weekend to #16 Minnesota 3-0 on Friday and Ohio State 3-1 on Sunday in the Breslin Center. The Spartans sit at 8-15 overall and just 1-11 in the Big Ten. They travel to face Maryland on November 7 and Rutgers on November 8.
Photo by Evert Nelson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Wrestling opened their season with a 20-12 win at American University in Washington, DC. The Spartans won 6 of 10 matches on Saturday and have now won 23 straight non-conference duals dating back to 2020. MSU returns to Jenison Field House to host the Michigan State Open on November 9. The first match begins at 9:30 AM.