Jan. 6, 2008
Naples, Fla. - After just over a month off from competition, the men's and women's swimming teams returned to action on Sunday with a trio of dual meets in Florida. The women's team easily won both of its duals, topping Florida Gulf Coast University 151-54 and Indian River Community College 153-48 to remain perfect on the year in dual meets at 6-0. The men's team topped Indian River CC 146-59 to improve to 3-1 on the year in duals. The meet was a competition in the middle of an annual winter training trip that the Nittany Lion swimming teams take to Florida.
The women took first place in eight of the 11 events contested while the men also took first in eight of 11. With most of the entire swimming squad traveling, several swimmers that have not had a lot of chances to compete in meets this year swam at the meet on Sunday. Several other swimmers swam in events that are not their normal events.
Both the men's relays were won by the Nittany Lions. In the 400 medley, the `A' team of Dan Fimbianti, Kyle Miranda, Basil Kaaki and Vincent Reydams won in a time of 3:30.32. The `B' and `C' teams finished second and third, respectively. The 400 free relay `A' team of Sean Swanepoel, Reydams, Jason Goldner and Sean Biedermann won in a time of 3:06.27.
The men took the top three spots in the 1000 free with Colin Quirk winning in 9:40.37. He was followed by David Kraft and Josh Wakeley. The Nittany Lions also took the top three spots in the 200 IM, with Biedermann winning in 1:56.89 and Matt Cox and Tim Williams placing second and third, respectively. The 500 free was the same with Kraft winning in 4:43.70 followed Quirk and Ben Ryan.
In the 200 butterfly, the men took the top five spots, with freshman Ken McCormick winning in 1:55.27. He was followed in order by Trey Rabinek, Cox, Jack Zierenberg and James Francis.
Colin Quirk won the 1000 free and finished second in the 500 free on Sunday. |
Fimbianti won the 200 backstroke in 1:55.00 and he was followed in second by Ryan DeWeese. Kevin Rybicki took first in the 200 breaststroke in 2:12.20.
For the women, they started out the day with a victory in 400 medley relay with the `A' team of Daphne Skelos, Clare Clemens, Kailey Morris and Lindsey DeForrest winning in a time of 3:57.76. The `B' and `C' teams finished second and third as well, respectively.
Kelly Nelson took first in the 1000 free, winning by nearly 10 seconds over the second place finisher in 10:10.84.
In the 200 free, Karie Haglund won in 1:56.69 and she was followed in a close second by Michelle Myers. Penn State took the top three spots in the 200 IM, with Caitlin Meehan winning in 2:08.37 and Abby Hoisington and Lyndsey Smith finishing 2-3. Those three were the only three Penn State entrants in the 200 IM. The Nittany Lions did the same thing in the 200 breast as Clemens won in 2:21.01 and she was followed by Haglund in second and Kaitlyn Ferguson in third.
In the 200 fly, usually a strong event for the women, Penn State took the top two spots, although they were two different swimmers than usual in Sarah Baker, who finished first in 2:07.19, and Skelos, who placed second.
Molly Crispell won the 100 free in :52.75 while Diana Greco won the 500 free in 5:03.81, topping the second place finisher by almost five seconds.
The swimming teams will remain in Florida this week for training before returning home for the start of the spring semester next week. In two weekends, both teams will be in action once again when they travel to Pittsburgh for a multi-team event.