Winding down the season and the school year
The school year for MSU wrapped with graduation the weekend of May 2-4 (and the 10th for MDs). However the spring sports season hasn’t quite closed – and even two weeks ago really was just getting interesting. We’d mentioned Baseball made the B1G post-season and Women’s Golf was headed to the National Championships, among other teams still in play – let’s check in on how seasons are winding down or wrapped.
Baseball
While the Spartans did squeak into the Big 10 Tournament as the last (No. 12) seed, they lost in quick succession to Nebraska (who is getting ready to play for the Tournament championship today) and No.1 seeded Oregon this past week – thus ending their season on Thursday evening.
However, for those of you who haven’t been tracking – MSU did feature the B1G Pitcher of Year, southpaw, Joseph Dzierwa . He’s also been named a National Pitcher of the Year Semi-finalist. Sophomore 2nd-baseman, Ryan McKay picked up All-B1G 2nd team honors while Senior Co-Captain, Sam Busch gathered the league’s Sportsmanship Award honors.
Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK
Men’s Golf
The Spartan duffers closed their season at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional tournament on the 14th. They tied for 11th out of 14 teams, making their fourth-straight appearance in an NCAA Regional and the eighth in the last nine years.
Track & Field
The Big Ten season wrapped with the conference meet out in Eugene, OR a week ago – with the Spartans collecting 4 podium finishes on the final day, led by distance runners. The Mens squad finished 16th and the Women finished 12th. However, both teams have meets still in front of them. First up – the NCAA Regionals in Jacksonville, FL the 28th-31st – ideally followed by the NCAA Championships, back in Eugene, June 11th-14th. Look for Kate Stewart-Barnett , the conference’s 3,000m Steeplechase champion to make it back to Eugene. We’ll be fingers crossed for seeing others in the Spartan Green join her.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Women’s Golf
Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll’s team continues to carry the torch for Spartan spring success. After taking 3rd in their NCAA Regional out in Oklahoma the weekend of May 5th/6th, the Lady Spartans leapt to 13th on day one of the NCAA championships, battling with a few other teams to ultimately capture 18th out of the 30 schools to close out the year.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
Women’s Rowing
The Crew team wrapped the Big Ten championships a week ago with the top 8-woman boat grabbing 5th, and the team overall taking 8th – a stone’s throw, point-wise, from 5th in a tightly packed field. Senior Sabrina Gottschalk earned 1st team All-B1G Honors with Maddie Kieft and Ugne Rudaityte grabbing 2nd team, and Samantha Thoma earning the Sportsmanship Award.
The squad has one last regatta ahead, with the NCAA National Championships coming up the Friday/Saturday (the 30th/31st) in Windsor, NJ.
Go Green.