Oct. 16, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Despite battling preseason injuries and illness, the Penn State men's swimming & diving team nearly beat West Virginia, falling 125-116 on Saturday afternoon. Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.) was PSU's most impressive swimmer winning the 100 and 200 freestyle events.
In the final event, West Virginia's (1-0) 400 freestyle relay squad beat out Penn State's by two-plus seconds to fend off the Nittany Lions. Penn State (0-1) received a top-notch showing from Alden, the junior freestyle specialist. He won his first event in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:40.88 before notching first in the 100 free (45.65).
Penn State saw three other first-place finishes as Luke Bushman (Green Bay, Wis.) won the 500 freestyle (4:36.82), Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.) won the 400 IM (4:05.03) and Jack Zierenberg (Allison Park, Pa.) took the top spot in the 1,000 free (9:46.72).
In the 400 IM, Penn State swept the top three spots as James Capparell (Bridgewater, N.J.) was second in a time of 4:07.36 and freshman Chris Cipolla (South River, N.J.) was third (4:07.87) in his collegiate debut. The Nittany Lions also took the top two spots in the 1,000 free with Josh Wakeley (Egg Harbor, N.J.) in second (9:47.52). John Silvers (Bradenton, Fla.) was fourth in 9:50.55.
In the diving well on Friday night, Jordan Harris (Philipsburg, Pa.) was second in the 1-meter (273.82) and the 3-meter (257.52) in his first collegiate meet.
Penn State returns to the pool next week as the Nittany Lions host Virginia Tech at McCoy Natatorium on Saturday, Oct. 23. The meet will kick off at 11:00 a.m.
--NITTANY LIONS--