Jan. 25, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams defeated West Chester on Friday afternoon at McCoy Natatorium in their final home meet of the year, which was also Senior Day for the Nittany Lions. The men's team pulled away at the end to break open what was a tight meet after the first break in the action to win 180-103 while the women took first place in all 15 events and cruised to a 219-63 win. The win improves the women to 10-0 on the year in dual meets and is their 24th straight dual meet win, while the men improve to 8-1 on the year in dual meets.
The women were led by Courtney Adlam on the diving boards and Karie Haglund in the swimming pool, both of which won two events. The rest of the 10 women's individual events were won by 10 different individuals, whilc the Nittany Lions also won the only relay of the meet. Haglund took first in the 100 butterfly and in the 500 freestyle, winning the 500 free in a time of 4:55.89 by nearly 12 seconds over second place Daphne Skelos. For the second straight meet, Adlam took first place on both the one and three-meter springboards. She scored her season high on both boards, winning the one-meter with a 259.87 and taking the three-meter crown with a 294.07.
Other winners for the women included Abby Hoisington in the 100 backstroke, Lyndsey Smith in the 100 breaststroke, Kailey Morris in the 1000 freestyle, Stephanie Roop in the 200 free, Molly Crispell in the 50 free, Kelly Nelson in the 200 IM, Kaitlin O'Brien in the 200 fly, Sarah Baker in the 100 free, Michelle Myers in the 200 back, Clare Clemens in the 200 breast, and the 200 free relay team of Baker, Nelson, Erin Luley and Caitlin Meehan.
The men's team took first place in 10 out of 15 events. A Nittany Lions swept both backstroke events but it was not Pat Schirk, who has done so in four different meets this year. Instead, with several swimmers swimming in off-events in this meet, it was Josh Graham who won both the 100 and 200 backstrokes. On the diving boards, Josh Bonner won both the one and three-meter springboards, setting his season high scores on both boards. He won the one-meter with a 288.22 and the three-meter with a 351.07. His twin brother, Justin, set his season high on the three-meter board in finishing second with a 337.57, which was also his first NCAA Zone A qualifying score of the year. Both Bonners have now qualified for the NCAA Zone diving meet. Justin also finished second to Josh on the one-meter board.
Max Cox picked up his first two career first place finishes with wins in the 200 IM and 200 fly. |
Freshman Matt Cox was also a two-event winner for the men as he took first in both the 200 fly and the 200 IM, his first two first place finishes of his career. Other winners for the men were Sean Swanepoel in the 100 free, Dito Calderon in the 500 free, Sean Biedermann in the 200 breast, and the 200 free relay team of Jason Goldner, Vincent Reydams, Schirk and Basil Kaaki.
The men's team will now be off until next weekend, when it will compete with Ohio State and Michigan in a tri-meet in Ann Arbor. The women's team, meanwhile, will compete in their final regular season meet tomorrow when it travels to Rutgers. That will be their final meet until Big Ten Championships next month and they will be looking to finish 11-0 in dual meets for the second straight year.