Dec. 4, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - THIS WEEKEND Both the men's and women's swimming teams and men's diving team will compete in their first championship-format meet of the 2008-09 season as they travel to Columbus, Ohio for the Ohio State Invitational Dec. 5-7. Other teams participating on the men's side are host and No. 13 Ohio State, Cleveland State, Duke, Iowa, No. 9 Minnesota, Notre Dame, and South Carolina while the women's field is made up of host Ohio State, Arizona State, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, No. 22 Florida State, No. 19 Indiana, No. 9 Minnesota, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina State, Notre Dame, and Purdue.
This year's event will be run in the same format as NCAA and conference championships with preliminary heats each morning and finals competition in the afternoon. This will also serve to preview the Big Ten Championships as four teams are represented on the men's side (No. 16 Penn State, No. 13 Ohio State, No. 9 Minnesota, and Iowa) while five comprise the women's division (No. 19 Indiana, No. 13 Penn State, No. 9 Minnesota, Ohio State and Purdue).
This event also marks the first time the Nittany Lions will swim against their former head coach, Bill Dorenkott, who is now the head coach at Ohio State.
Fans can follow the action live by going to www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com and choosing women's swimming and diving under "sports" in the upper right corner. Once in the women's home page, click on Live Meet Scoring on the right hand side of the page.
The women's diving team will travel to Piscataway, N.J. Saturday and Sunday for the Galbraith Diving Invitational hosted by Rutgers.
SETTING THE SCENE The No. 16 Nittany Lion men are looking to make a statement after falling to Florida State, 225.50-127.50, and No. 15 Virginia, 228-120. Despite the losses, individual and event times are improving as the men are continuing their quest for dominance. The No. 13 women fared better as they overcame No. 22 Florida State, 207-146, before succumbing to No. 10 Virginia, 201-148. As the women cruised to six first place finishes, Kaitlin O'Brien (Caldwell, N.J.) earned two NCAA `B' qualifying times. She will compete in the 200-yard breaststroke and 400 individual medley at the NCAA Championships in March.
LOOKING AHEAD Each team will be taking time off for the remainder of this month as they prepare for final exams, followed by winter break, before traveling to Florida for the annual winter training trip. As a part of this trip, the swim teams will face Junior College power Indian River C.C. in Naples, Fla. on Jan. 3 while the diving teams travel to Knoxville, Tenn. for the Tennessee Diving Invitational Jan. 3-5.