Jan. 19, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State freshman Amy Modglin (Fort Myers, Fla.) was named Counsilman Hunsaker National Collegiate Swimmer of the Week on Tuesday following a sensational effort at last weekend's Pittsburgh quad meet. She also earned the Lions' first Big Ten Women's Swimmer of the Week laurels. Modglin won three events at Pittsburgh, including two "NCAA B" marks while also breaking more than a 30-year pool record by over a second.
The national honor is presented by CollegeSwimming.com and given to the top Division I, II and III swimmers from the previous week. The weekly accolades mark the Lions' first of the season and first since last Jan. 27 when Karie Haglund was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week.
Her efforts helped lead the Nittany Lions to a sweep of the meet, beating Pittsburgh (194-156), Maryland (185-168) and Villanova (276-77) to improve their record to 6-2.
Modglin's two "NCAA B" times up her season total to eight. Her three first-place finishes improve her season (and career) total to 13.
On Friday, she swam to a first-place and "NCAA B" time in the 400 IM (4:18.14). She followed that on Saturday with another B mark and a Trees Pool record time in the 200 backstroke (1:57.49). That topped the previous record of 1:58.83 held by Stanford's Linda Jezek since 1979. It was Modglin's second pool record in the 200 backstroke this season; she previously set Virginia Tech's pool record (1:58.89) on Oct. 31. She also won the 200 backstroke at the prestigious Ohio State Invitational on Dec. 6.
In addition, Modglin rounded out her weekend at Pittsburgh by winning the 200 IM (2:04.44) while finishing second and third in the 400 medley relay and 100 backstroke, respectively.
The Nittany Lions return to action on Jan. 29 as they travel to Columbus, Ohio to face Big Ten foes Ohio State, Michigan and Northwestern.