Aug. 6, 2007
Indianapolis, Ind.; August 6, 2007 - The 30-member Penn State contingent of swimmers wrapped up their stay at the ConocoPhillips U.S. Nationals this past weekend and completed a very successful meet for Penn State. Pat Schirk logged his second fifth place finish of the meet with a fifth place showing in the men's 100-meter backstroke, adding that to his fifth place finish in the 200-meter backstroke earlier in the meet to lead the Nittany Lions. As a team, the club team that most of Penn State's swimmers were swimming under, Big Cat Aquatics, placed in a tie for 14th place in the meet, although not all of the Penn State swimmers that scored points swam under Big Cat Aquatics at this meet.
Schirk, who now ranks in the top eight in the country in both backstroke events after this meet, finished just under two second behind Michael Phelps in the 100 backstroke, swimming the finals in :55.00 even.
Also placing in the points for Penn State were Michelle Myers, who finished ninth in the women's 100 backstroke in 1:02.87, as well as the women's 400 medley relay team of Kaitlyn Ferguson, Caitlin Meehan, Kelly Nelson and Molly Crispell, which placed 14th in 4:15.89. Additionally, Kailey Morris was a member of the fifth place team in the 400 medley relay as her team, which included Olympian Katie Hoff, finished in 4:12.48.
Complete results are available on the U.S. Swimming website, www.usaswimming.org.
Penn State swimmers competing on Thursday-Saturday (August 2-4) at U.S. Nationals
Men's 50-meter freestyleSean Swanepoel (Prelims: :23.92 - T71st)Vincent Reydams (Prelims: :24.09 - T87th)Rob Felty (Prelims: :24.38 - 100th)
Men's 100-meter backstrokePat Schirk (Finals: :55.00 - 5th; Prelims: :54.87 - 5th)Dan Fimbianti (Prelims: :57.58 - 27th)
Women's 100-meter backstrokeMichelle Myers (Finals: 1:02.87 - 9th; Prelims: 1:02.85 - 9th)Daphne Skelos (Prelims: 1:04.09 - 33rd)
Women's 100-meter breaststrokeCaitlin Meehan (Prelims: 1:12.51 - 39th)Lyndsey Smith (Prelims: 1:12.62 - 42nd)Abby Hoisington (Prelims: 1:13.05 - 53rd)
Men's 100-meter butterflyTim Williams (Prelims: :56.04 - 69th)
Women's 100-meter butterflyKarie Haglund (Prelims: 1:01.47 - 27th)Kelly Nelson (Prelims: 1:02.08 - T40th)
Men's 200-meter freestyleSean Biedermann (Prelims: 1:53.22 - 49th)Josh Graham (Prelims: 1:54.20 - T66th)Spencer Maglich (Prelims: 1:58.43 - 109th)
Women's 200-meter freestyleKelly Nelson (Prelims: 2:03.41 - 30th)Molly Crispell (Prelims: 2:04.47 - 49th)Jessica Barnes (Prelims: 2:05.02 - 66th)
Men's 200-meter IMSean Biedermann (Prelims: 2:10.75 - 80th)
Women's 200-meter IMKaitlin O'Brien (Finals: 2:17.54 - 20th; Prelims: 2:18.21 - 17th)Karie Haglund (Prelims: 2:19.46 - 27th)Kelly Nelson (Prelims: 2:21.29 - 60th)Daphne Skelos (Prelims: 2:23.26 - 94th)
Men's 400-meter freestyleRyan DeWeese (Prelims: 3:59.92 - 39th)Chris Sullivan (Prelims: 4:06.05 - 77th)Jon Cochrane (Prelims: 4:06.50 - 78th)
Women's 400-meter freestyleKailey Morris (Finals: 4:18.36 - 22nd; Prelims: 4:17.80 - 22nd)Jessica Barnes (Prelims: 4:22.06 - 61st)Molly Crispell (Prelims: 4:24.87 - 86th)Jaime Keily (Prelims: 4:30.47 - 94th)
Men's 800-meter freestyleDavid Kraft (8:17.82 - 23rd)Max Ettore (8:25.83 - 45th)Ben Ryan (8:31.94 - 54th)
Women's 4x100 (400-meter) medley relayKaitlyn Ferguson, Caitlin Meehan, Kelly Nelson, Molly Crispell (4:15.89 - 14th)
Women's 4x200 (800-meter) freestyle relayKelly Nelson, Molly Crispell, Jessica Barnes, Michelle Myers (8:24.30 - 19th)