The men's swimming and diving team earned its first Big Ten win of the season Saturday against Michigan State (1-6, 0-6 Big Ten) with a score of 136-107. This triumph comes just two weeks before the Big Ten Championships in Minnesota.

The Lions' performance resulted in wins and season-best times for a few of the team members. Freshman Mike Przywozny swam two of his best times of the season in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, placing first and second, respectively.

Penn State took the top three spots in the 400-medley relay.

Three Lion swimmers won their events with relative ease -- Alex Cunha in the 200 IM (1:53.51), Scott Landmann in the 200 breastroke (2:09.13) and Mac Fraser in the 200 butterfly (45.87).

Swimming Coach Peter Brown said the meet was good for his swimmers' spirits.

"It was really good to see a nice team effort," he added. "Peoples' races started to come together, and we saw a lot of good improvements."

Brown also said the team needs to focus more on individual needs in preparation for the conference championships.

The Lion divers were not as successful against the Spartans. Michigan State took the top three spots in the 1-meter dive and the top two spots in the 3-meter dive. Michigan State's No. 1 diver, John Maxson, finished first in both events.

Prior to the meet, Spartan Diving Coach John Narcy said he strongly felt that Penn State's Chris Devine, a national diving champion, was greatly favored over Maxson.

"Penn State is our stiffest competition," Narcy added. "I expect that this meet will be very difficult for us."

Lion Diving Coach Craig Brown described the matchup with the Spartans as the team's "reality-check meet."

"We looked good, but we missed almost all of our finishes," he said. "You can make a perfect dive, but it really comes down to going in the water straight."

He added that Devine put a lot of pressure on himself for this meet and tightened up. As a result, he missed many of his dives. Devine finished third in the 1-meter dive with 282 points.

Sophomore Seth Kane finished fourth in the 3-meter dive. Brown said he felt that if Kane had made just a few more of his dives, he could have won.

The Lions will have their last dual meet of the season this weekend with Lasalle at home.