March 26, 2008
NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championship Notes (pdf)
University Park, Pa. - Five members of the men's swimming team will head across three time zones to Federal Way, Wash. for the 2008 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, which begin on Thursday, March 27 and run through Saturday, March 29. The five swimmers is the second-most since 2002, topped only by the nine representatives from Penn State that competed at last year's championships.
Leading the way for the Nittany Lions is junior Pat Schirk, who is seeded second in the 200 backstroke, having swam the second-fastest time in the country this year in that event. The school record-holder in the 100 and 200 backstroke events, Schirk will be looking to become the first All-American swimmer from Penn State since 2000. He will swim in both backstroke events and is seeded 18th in the 100.
Also making the trip to suburban Seattle is Sean Biedermann, Jason Goldner, Vincent Reydams and Sean Swanepoel. All but Goldner are making their second straight appearance at NCAA's, while Goldner is making his first career appearance. Both Reydams and Swanepoel will be swimming in individual events this year for the first time, as both swam in only relays at NCAA's last year. In addition to the 400 free relay, Reydams will swim in both the 50 and 100 free while Swanepoel will swim in the 100 free. Goldner and Biedermann will complete the 13th-seeded 400 free relay team. Biedermann will also swim in the 200 free and 200 IM.
The daily swimming sessions will get underway at 12:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Pacific time. Prelims will start at 3:00 p.m. ET and finals will not begin until 10:00 p.m. ET. A tape delayed broadcast of the highlights of the action can be seen next Thursday, April 3 on ESPN2 at 2:00 p.m. ET.