Dec. 4, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. -- The Penn State men's swimming & diving team remained in fifth place at the Georgia Invitational but saw some terrific individual and relay performances in the pool on Saturday. The 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays each recorded NCAA "B" cuts as did Luke Bushman (Green Bay, Wis.) in the 400 IM, Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.) in the 200 free and Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.) in the 100 breast.
The 200 medley impressed with the highest placing of the meet thus far in third place. Bushman led off with a 23.24 backstroke leg, giving way to Scherer, Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.) and Alden as the freestyle anchor. The relay recorded a season-best time of 1:28.99.
Alden and Scherer each finished fourth in the finals of their respective individual events. Alden notched a time of 1:37.49 in the 200 freestyle final, while Scherer completed the 100 breaststroke in an even 55 seconds. Bushman notched a sixth-place showing in the 400 IM finals with a 3:54.75, a career best time by nearly four seconds (3:58.18 at 2010 Big Tens).
Alden and Bushman again starred in the final event of the day, the 800 freestyle relay. Alden led off with a 1:37.45, bettering his individual showing in the 200 free earlier in the night. Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.) swam 1:39.60, giving way to Bushman who notched a 1:40.29 before Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.) came home in 1:41.16 for the team's season-best 6:38.50 time in sixth place.
The Nittany Lions conclude the three-day Georgia Invitational on Sunday with preliminaries beginning at 9:30 a.m. with the finals later in the day. Live results and starting lists can be found on the schedule page.
--NITTANY LIONS--