Daphne Skelos picked up her second NCAA 'B' cut of the year as she finished third in the 200 IM.
SOUTH BEND, Ind.; January 26, 2007 ?C The women??s swimming and diving team leads all four of its duals after the first night of the Shamrock Invitational and the men??s team leads three of its four duals after the first night of action. The five-team meet featured 12 events, six each for men and women. Penn State won two of the six women??s events and finished second in two other events while the men??s team had three second place finishes out of its six events.
On the women??s side, the undefeated Nittany Lions lead host Notre Dame 58.5-51.5. They also lead Oakland 89-20, UConn 82-28, and West Virginia 69-41. The men also lead the host Irish 62-48 and the Nits lead Oakland 85-25 and UConn by a 90-20 margin. Only West Virginia leads Penn State but by a slim margin of 57-53.
"Overall, I thought we raced well and had good enthusiasm throughout," said Penn State swimming coach Bill Dorenkott. "We could have finished the session a little tougher in the relays. I felt that we were not recovering especially well between races and that will come as we get more rest."
The 200 freestyle relay team of Michelle Myers, Genie Cheng, Crispell and Kelly Nelson started off the night with a first place finish in a team-best time of the year of 1:34.44. The ??B?? team of Rachel Ahrenhold, Lindsey DeForrest, Baker and Erin Morris also finished fourth.
Kailey Morris improved her previous NCAA ??B?? cut in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:51.88 to win that event out of the field of 35 swimmers. Morris was just one of a pack of Nittany Lion swimmers that finished near the top in the 500 free. The Lions had five of the top eight finishers and eight of the top 13 as they continue their strong showings in the distance events. Nikki Collins placed third in 4:53.18. Sarah Baker missed an NCAA ??B?? cut by just .17 of a second as she finished fifth. Jessica Barnes placed sixth and Jaime Keily came in eighth. Erin Morris, Claire Hawley and Molly Crispell finished 11-12-13 to round the Nittany Lion finishers in the top 16.
"Kailey Morris had a tough race in the 500 free. She is a great competitor and really came through for us," said Dorenkott.
Kailey Morris won the 500 freestyle and was one of eight Penn State finishers in the top 13 in the 500. |
In the 200 IM, Karie Haglund placed second just .28 of a second out of first place with a time of 2:02.68. Daphne Skelos finished third with an NCAA ??B?? time of 2:03.65, her second ??B?? cut of the year and the 27th NCAA cut (A and B) for the women this year. Kaitlin O??Brien finished fifth in 2:03.75 and Kelly Nelson was just behind her in 2:04.27, just .14 of a second off a ??B?? cut. Megan Palera finished eighth to give Penn State five of the top eight finishers in the 200 IM.
Myers placed third in the 50 free at :23.78 while Cheng was fifth at :24.06. In the 400 medley relay, the ??A?? team of Myers, Lyndsey Smith, Haglund and Crispell placed third in 3:47.98.
The women??s divers also performed very well on the first night as on the three-meter springboard, Courtney Adlam finished second with a 273.75 while Kimberlee Peifer was just behind her in third place with a score of 252.95. Jocelyn Avery came in 11th at 195.75, her third-best score of the year in the three-meter.
The men??s team got the night started off very positively as well as the 200 free relay ??A?? team of Basil Kaaki, Dan Kaiserian, Sean Swanepoel and Sean Biedermann came in second at 1:22.96, just .27 of a second out of first. The ??B?? team of Rob Felty, Vincent Reydams, Jason Goldner and Spencer Maglich finished fourth in 1:24.15.
In the 500 free, the men did nearly as well as the women, as they placed fifth through night place behind Notre Dame??s top four finishers and also had eight of the top 15 finishers. Jonathan Cochrane led the way in fifth place with a time of 4:35.09 and he was followed in order by Ryan DeWeese, Ben Ryan, Chris Sullivan and Spencer Maglich in sixth through ninth. David Kraft placed 11th, Dito Calderon came in 13th and Colin Quirk finished 15th to round out the eight swimmers in the top 15.
"Jon Cochrane's 500 was a big swim against the Notre Dame guys who were suited up. I was proud of the fact that he stepped up and raced," said Dorenkott.
Basil Kaaki finished third in the 50 free with a career best time of :20.99. |
Biedermann placed second in the 200 IM in 1:52.80 while Tim Williams finished fourth in 1:53.99. Pat Schirk placed eighth to give Penn State three of the top eight finishers. In the 50 free, Kaaki swam his fastest time of the year, coming in third at :20.99. The Nittany Lions also had a strong presence at the top of the finishers?? list of the 50 free as they had five of the top nine. After Kaaki, Kaiserian finished fifth in :21.06 while Felty was just behind him in sixth at :21.22. Reydams and Swanepoel finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
"Our male sprinters are starting to come around with a few of them at or faster than their lifetime best times, which bodes well for Big Ten's," Dorenkott explained.
The men wrapped up the first night of competition with their third second place finish of the night in the 400 medley relay. The ??A?? team of Schirk, Kyle Miranda, Williams and Swanepoel placed second in 3:20.90. The ??B?? team of Dan Fimbianti, Kevin Rybicki, Kaaki and Kaiserian placed seventh.
On the diving board for the men, Mike Alderman turned in another strong showing, scoring his third-highest point total of the year with a 305.35 on the one-meter board to finish third. Josh Myers took seventh with a 250.65.
Tomorrow??s morning action will get underway at 10:00 a.m. with the evening session scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. The women will be looking to remain undefeated as they were 7-0 heading into this weekend while the men will be looking to add to their four-meet winning streak.
"Tomorrow will be a great opportunity to race and we need to be ready to go in the morning," Dorenkott said.