Feb. 27, 2008
Men's Big Ten Championships Notes/Guide (pdf)
Coach Dorenkott's Big Ten Men's Championship Preview Podcast (mp3)
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State men's swimming and diving team heads to Ann Arbor, Mich. for the 2008 Men's Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend. Action will get underway on Thursday and the championships run through Saturday at Michigan's Canham Natatorium. Daily prelimiaries begin at noon on each day while the nightly finals are at 7:00 p.m.
The Nittany Lions will be looking to improve on a seventh place finish from last year, which was one spot better than the previous year. Penn State scored points in all but one event last year, with platform diving being the lone event that was not scored in, however Penn State does not compete in that. In several events, however, just one Penn State swimmer scored with the high for Penn State scorers being three in the 1650 free. The Nittany Lions will look to improve on that at this year's championships.
One thing the Nittany Lions do have going for them is that they have already swam more NCAA qualifying times this year entering Big Ten's than they had last year. In 2007, Penn State only had two NCAA 'B' times entering Big Ten Championships but still qualified eight swimmers for NCAA's. This year, four different individuals have already swam NCAA 'B' cuts and three relay teams also have 'B' cuts. Two divers have also already qualified for the NCAA Zone meet. One swimmer, Pat Schirk, has already automatically qualified for NCAA's with an NCAA 'A' qualifying time in the 200 back. Schirk, who played second in the 200 back at Big Ten's last year and was named second team All-Big Ten, is one of Penn State's top contenders for individual titles, as he will be a factor in both the 100 and 200 backstrokes. He holds Penn State school records in both events.
Check back to GoPSUsports.com after each prelim and finals session for a recap. Updated top times and NCAA qualifiers will also be posted after each session on Friday and Saturday. A link to the live results from the entire championships is available on both the master schedule and the men's swimming schedule page at GoPSUsports.com or by clicking on the link here.