March 27, 2009
On the second day of competition at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, two-time All-American Patrick Schirk placed 16th in the 100 yard backstroke. Touching the wall in 47.90, he picked up points for the Nittany Lions and also earned Honorable Mention All-America status.
For the fifth time in program history and second in two years, all men's swimmers representing Penn State at the NCAA Championships have earned at least Honorable Mention All-America laurels. Vincent Reydams, Brian Alden, Basil Kaaki and Jason Goldner picked up honorable metion distinction yesterday with a 14th place finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay. In 1994, Chris Devine became a two-time All-American with a third place finish in the 1-meter springboard and a fifth place finish in the 3-meter springboard. In 1943, R.E. Cowell placed fifth in the 150 backstroke. In the following year Abel Gilbert finished fourth in both the 220 freestyle and 1500 freestyle while placing sixth in the 440 freestyle.
Last year, Reydams and Goldner joined Sean Swanepoel and Sean Biedermann for a 16th place finish in the 400 freestyle relay while Schirk picked up two All-American accolades with an eighth place finish in the 100 backstroke and medalist honors in the 200 backstroke to become Penn State's first ever swimming individual national champion
The Nittany Lions will wrap up the NCAA Championships and 2009 season tomorrow with the preliminaries beginning at 1 p.m. ET and the finals commencing at 8 p.m. ET. All will be competing as Alden and Reydams swim in the 100 freestyle and later join Kaaki and Goldner in the 400 freestyle relay. In addition, Schirk will defend his title in the 200 backstroke.
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