Oct. 18, 2007
Oct. 18, 2007
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State men's and women's swimming and diving teams opened up the 2007-08 season by sweeping dual meets with West Virginia at home on Thursday. The women's team topped the Mountaineers by a score of 227-73 while the men's squad won by a 194-106 score. Both Penn State squads are now 1-0 in dual meets on the season and both will be off until they host a quad meet the weekend of November 9-10.
The women's team swam an amazing total of six NCAA `B' provisional qualifying times in their first meet while two divers also posted NCAA Zone qualifying scores. The 400 medley relay team of Michelle Myers, Caitlin Meehan, Kelly Nelson and Molly Crispell finished first in 3:44.03, just under the `B' cut time of 3:44.56. Meehan also came in just under the `B' cut in the 100 breaststroke at 1:03.33 and came in well under the threshold in the 200 breast at 2:16.56. Kaitlin O'Brien also swam a `B' cut in the 200 breast with a 2:16.89. Both Kailey Morris and Karie Haglund swam `B' times in the 200 butterfly and both were well under the standard. Haglund also swam a `B' time in the 200 fly in the first meet last year at West Virginia. Two female divers also put up NCAA Zone A qualifying scores on each board. Kim Peifer scored a 276.45 on the one-meter board, well above the 255 minimum, while teammate Courtney Adlam scored a 287.48 on the three-meter board, well above the 270 minimum.
The women's team captured first place in 14 out of the 16 events contested while the men's team finished first in 10 of their 16 events. Three swimmers on the women's team and two swimmers and one diver on the men's team each won two individual events to lead the teams. For the women, Kelly Nelson won both the 200 free and 100 fly events and was also a part of both the first place 400 free and 400 medley relay teams. Caitlin Meehan took both the 100 and 200 breast events and was also on the that same first place 400 medley relay team. Kaitlin O'Brien won both the 1000 free and the 200 IM.
On the men's side, Pat Schirk won both the 100 and 200 backstroke events and was on the first place 400 medley relay team. Tim Williams won both butterfly events, the 100 and 200, while Josh Bonner, in his debut with the Nittany Lions, won both the one and three-meter springboard diving events.
In the women's 400 medley relay, the Nittany Lions captured the top two spots and three of the top four as the team of Kaitlyn Ferguson, Abby Hoisington, Karie Haglund and Sarah Baker came in second behind the NCAA `B' cut first place team. Lauren Smart, Lyndsey Smith, Alexandra Young and Lindsey DeForrest finished fourth.
Caitlin Meehan swam two NCAA 'B' times both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. |
O'Brien won the 1000 free in 9:56.91 and she was followed by Stephanie Roop, who finished in 10:03.85. A transfer from West Virginia competing against her former team, Roop also won the 500 free.
Sarah Baker finished second in both of her individual swims, the 200 and 500 free. Freshman Diana Greco placed fourth in the 200 free.
Penn State also dominated the 100 backstroke as Myers captured first in :56.81 and was followed by Daphne Skelos in second and Ferguson in fourth. The Nittany Lions did likewise in the 100 breast as Hoisington followed Meehan in second and Clare Clemens finished fourth. Penn State took the top three places in the 200 fly as Morris and Haglund finished 1-2 and were followed by freshman Alexandra Young in third.
The 50 free was one of only two events the women did not win but they did finished second and third with Molly Crispell and Lindsey DeForrest with freshman Colby Capretto taking fifth. The 100 free was the other event but in that one, Penn State finished second, third and fourth with Myers, Crispell and DeForrest. Skelos and Morris finished 1-2 in the 200 back while in the 200 breast, Meehan and O'Brien were 1-2 with their respective `B' times and Clemens was fourth. In the 100 fly, Penn State took the top three spots with Nelson, Haglund and Young and the Lions did the same in the 200 IM with O'Brien, Morris and Skelos. They wrapped up the meet with a first place finish by the team of Myers, Nelson, Crispell and DeForrest in the 400 free relay.
In the women's diving events, Peifer and Adlam finished 1-2 in the one-meter and that order was reversed in the three-meter. Freshman Ilana Zeises finished third in the three-meter.
For the men, the team of Schirk, Kyle Miranda, Basil Kaaki and Sean Swanepoel started off the meet by winning the 400 medley relay while the team of Dan Fimbianti, Kevin Rybicki, Williams and Vincent Reydams placed second.
In the 1000 free, David Kraft won with a time 9:29.54 while Dito Calderon place second. Penn State also went 1-2 in the 500 free with Chris Sullivan winning and Ryan DeWeese placing second. The Nittany Lions placed 2-3-4 in the 200 free with Sean Biedermann, Jon Cochrane and Spencer Maglich.
Pat Schirk captured first in both backstroke events. |
Schirk and Fimbianti placed first and second in both the 100 and 200 back while the Nittany Lions had the top three finishers in the 200 fly in Williams, Kaaki and freshman Josh Wakeley. Williams and Kaaki also finished first and second in the 100 fly.
In the 50 free, Reydams swam to a blistering :20.68 to place first and hold off second place teammate Rob Felty, who finished in :21.16. Reydams also finished second in the 100 free by just .01 of a second in :46.13 and he was followed by Swanepoel and Biedermann and third and fourth, respectively. Biedermann and freshman Matt Cox placed second and third in the 200 IM.
The men's diving team also had a strong meet as Josh Bonner's twin brother, Justin finished second behind him in the one-meter and third in the three-meter. Josh Myers finished third in the one-meter and fourth in the three-meter.
Both teams will take a few weeks off before getting back into the pool for competition on November 9-10. The women's team will host Virginia, Michigan State and Purdue for a quad meet while the men will host Virginia and Michigan State.