The OSU men’s swimming team practices leading up to meets against Michigan State and the University of Pittsburgh on Jan. 20 and 21. Credit: Sydney McNulty | Lantern reporter
The Ohio State men’s swimming team is set to compete in back-to-back dual meets this weekend, starting on Friday at Michigan State and continuing in Columbus on Saturday, hosting the University of Pittsburgh.
The Buckeyes head to East Lansing, Michigan, after a dominant performance against Cincinnati, setting three pool records at Keating Aquatic Center.
Carrying that momentum is vital heading into a double header, graduate senior Josh Fleagle said.
“It’s definitely not easy,” he said. “We just take it one practice at a time, one meet at a time and we look forward to new challenges, competition and we love racing.”
It will be a quick turnaround, but Fleagle believes the team’s experience will give the Buckeyes an upper hand.
“When we go to Big Tens and NCAAs, it’s four or five days of just swimming,” he said. “So two days isn’t that bad, granted we will get back a little bit later on Friday from Michigan State. But we are pretty used to it.”
The Buckeyes will swim against the Spartans for the first time this season. Senior Matt McHugh said the results of the meet will give some insight into the team’s level of conditioning.
“It’ll be good to see how we go up against Michigan State in a dual meet,” he said. “It’s a good indication to see where we need to improve, and what events we need to put certain people in.”
In facing both a conference and a out of conference opponent this weekend, the Buckeyes are keeping the same mindset: competition is competition, said Fleagle.
“I think right now the positivity is really up and obviously, the goal is to get best times in everything we do,” he said.
Competition is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. on Friday and at noon on Saturday.
