Jan. 14, 2011
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Penn State men's swimming & diving team came off the block in impressive fashion, racing out to a lead of 130-37 over Maryland and 108-58 over Pittsburgh after the first night in a two-day meet at the Eppley Center.
Penn State opened the meet on the 3-meter springboard with Alex Marchinski (Shillington, Pa.) placing second with a personal-best score of 292.40.
The Nittany Lions hit the pool taking first and third in the 200 medley relay. The four-man squad of Graham Risley (Riverside, Ill.), Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.), Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.) and Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.) completed the race in 1:30.06. Luke Bushman (Green Bay, Wis.), Brent Sanderson (Chadds Ford, Pa.), Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.) and John Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.) led the B team in a time of 1:33.70.
Bushman would return to the pool a few moments later to lead a sweep of the 1,650 freestyle. The Wisconsin native captured the top honor in a time of 15:42.10 with Jack Zierenberg (Allison Park, Pa.) and Johnny Silvers (Sarasota, Fla.) in second and third, respectively.
The Penn State domination didn't stop there because Grier and Matt Salig (Downingtown, Pa.) crafted a 1-2 finish in the 100 butterfly with Grier touching the wall in 49.71 and Salig in a time of 49.99.
After a second-place showing in the 100 back from Risley (49.53), the Nittany Lions swept another event, this time the 400 IM. Bushman notched his third first-place finish of the night with a time of 3:59.94. James Capparell (Bridgewater, N.J.) and Salig trailed closely behind in 4:00.17 and 4:00.69, respectively.
Alden logged his second top performance of the evening by taking the 100 freestyle in a time of 44.97 before Scherer and Marino worked their collective magic in the 100 breaststroke. Scherer won the race in a time of 56.99 and Marino was second (57.89).
Penn State capped the night action off with a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:24.04), getting edged by Pittsburgh (1:23.85) on the anchor leg. The squad consisted of Alden, Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.), John Austin and Andrew Sideras (Philadelphia, Pa.).
PSU will look to finish off the Terrapins and Panthers on Saturday morning when competition begins at 11:00 a.m. A full recap with results from the two-day meet will be available shortly after the event concludes.
--NITTANY LIONS--