Jan. 19, 2008
Pittsburgh, Pa. - The Penn State women's swimming and diving team took first place in all 10 events that were contested on Saturday, the second day of the two-day, five-team meet hosted by Pittsburgh, to easily win all three of its dual meets and remain perfect on the year in dual meets with a 9-0 dual meet record. The men's team took first in four events on Saturday to keep their leads in all four of its duals and win all four to improve to 7-1 on the year in duals.
For the weekend, the Nittany Lion women took first place in 17 out of the 19 events that were contested. The men were winners in nine out of 19 events.
With their three wins in their three dual meets, the women's team has now won 23 consecutive dual meets dating back to the last three meets of the 2005-06 season. They also went a perfect 11-0 in duals last year. Their last dual meet loss came back on January 26, 2006 at Rutgers.
The women dominated on the scoreboard in all three of its duals, with a 147-point margin being the smallest margin of victory in a 249-102 win over the host Panthers. The women also defeated Maryland 268-83 and topped Villanova 277-76. The men's team's duals were a little bit closer but all were won by comfortable margins. The closest score was the win over Missouri by just 32 points, 191-159. Penn State also topped Maryland 228-116, Pitt 217-135 and Villanova by a 287-58 score.
Pat Schirk had a strong second day of the meet, winning the 200 back, 400 medley relay and taking second in the 200 IM. |
Kailey Morris started off the day for the Nittany Lion swimmers by taking first place in the 500 freestyle. She was followed in a second and third place, respectively, by Sarah Baker and Stephanie Roop while Diana Greco placed sixth. Morris also took first place in the 200 butterfly, coming in at 2:02.81. Just like the 500 free, she was followed in second and third by a pair of teammates with Karie Haglund and Alex Young going second and third.
In the 200 free, Kelly Nelson swam her second-fastest time of the year in taking first in that event with a time of 1:49.50, which was her fastest time of the year in an actual 200 free race. Her fastest time of the year came on the leadoff leg of a relay.
Kaitlin O'Brien was also a winner in two events, the 200 IM and the 200 breaststroke. Her win in the 200 IM was her fifth first place finish of the year in that event in as many swims while her win in the 200 breast was her third of the year in six swims. The Nittany Lions took first through third in the 200 breast with Caitlin Meehan placing second and Clare Clemens coming in third.
After winning the 100 backstroke last night, Michelle Myers came back on Saturday to also capture first place in the 50 free, touching the wall just .06 of a second in front of the second place finisher in :23.74. Lindsey DeForrest finished fourth.
Michelle Myers added the 50 free to her 100 back title from last night and also was a part of both first place relay teams on Saturday. |
In the 200 back, Daphne Skelos won in a time 2:03.30 while Lauren Smart took fifth place and Kaitlyn Ferguson was eighth.
In the two relays, Penn State took first in both of them with ease. In the 400 free relay, the `A' team of Myers, Nelson, Molly Crispell and Baker won a time of 3:25.89 by nearly seven seconds over second place Maryland. The Penn State `B' team of DeForrest, Haglund, Erin Luley and O'Brien finished third. The 400 medley relay `A' team of Myers, Meehan, Nelson and Baker took first in a winning time of 3:47.79, about four and a half seconds in front of the second place team, which was the Penn State `B' team of Ferguson, Abby Hoisington, Haglund and Crispell.
In the women's diving event of the day, Courtney Adlam pulled off a sweep in both diving events of the meet as she took first place with a score of 248.80 on the three-meter springboard after she also won the one-meter last night.
For the men, Pat Schirk completed another meet sweep of the backstroke events as he took first place in the 200 back in 1:49.63 after also placing first in the 100 back last night. Ryan DeWeese finished sixth and Dan Fimbianti placed eighth in the 200 back.
Tim Williams took first in the 200 fly on Saturday. |
The 200 fly went very well for the men as Tim Williams won in 1:51.79. He was followed by Dito Calderon in third place and by Jack Zierenberg in sixth.
The two men's relay teams were responsible for the other two first place finishes on the day for the men, with one winning by somewhat wide margin just like the women and the other very narrowly taking first. The 400 medley relay team of Schirk, Kyle Miranda, Basil Kaaki and Sean Swanepoel won with a time of 3:21.84, winning by nearly three and a half seconds over second place Missouri. In the 400 free relay, the `A' team of Vincent Reydams, Swanepoel, Sean Biedermann and Rob Felty touched the wall just .07 of a second ahead of second place Maryland in 3:04.33.
Other highlights for the men included David Kraft and Ryan DeWeese finishing second and third, respectively, in the 500 free. In the 200 free, Ben Ryan came in second, being edged out by just .15 of a second for first place. Swanepoel and Spencer Maglich finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Penn State took second through fourth place in the 200 IM as Schirk, Biedermann and Kaaki finished in that order.
Penn State took three of the top six places in the 50 free, led by Reydams in third place in :20.84. Kaaki and Felty were fifth and sixth. Miranda took fourth place in the 200 breast.
In the men's one-meter diving, Justin and Josh Bonner finished back-to-back in fifth and sixth. Justin scored a 263.15 while Josh scored a 249.15.