Feb. 18, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Two of the three oldest records in program history fell on Friday evening as the Penn State women's swimming & diving team capped off the third day of the Big Ten Championships with another strong showing as the Nittany Lions capitalized on Mackenzie Powers' outstanding effort to move into fourth-place in the standings entering the final day of action at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
Powers and the team's 400-medley relay squad both posted record-breaking performances while helping Penn State move into fourth with 275 points. With seven events remaining, Indiana sits in first-place with 531 points, while Minnesota (395) and Ohio State (302) round out the top-three.
Powers was the headliner on Friday as the freshman phenom pieced together a pair of memorable performances. On an individual level, she dominated in the 100-fly after placing second with a time of 52.72. That pace easily eclipsed Amberle Biedermann's school mark of 53.47 set in 2003.
Rounding out her amazing evening, Powers also swam the third-leg on Penn State's record-breaking 400-medley relay team. In that event, she joined forces with Paige Whitmire, Merritt Krawczyk, and Samantha Palser to place fourth with a time of 3:36.16. That clocking topped the previous school record of 3:36.39, which was also set in 2003.
In addition to the record-breakers, the Nittany Lions saw several other top performances on the third day of the meet. During the 400-IM, Penn State placed a pair of competitors in the 'A' final and had three swimmers top the NCAA provisional qualifying time. Chelsea Weedman led the way, finishing fourth with a time of 4:12.81. Amy Modglin was up next after placing sixth in 4:16.54 before Claire Singley rounded out the speedsters in 16th with a time of 4:18.76.
During the final swimming event of the evening, Whitmire and Hailey Campbell both put together strong efforts in the 100-backstroke. Whitmire led the way after placing fifth with a time of 53.85. Campbell nearly matched her stroke-for-stroke as she finished sixth in 53.91.
In other events, Monika Mialka placed 17th in the 200-freestyle after touching the wall in 1:48.35, while Erin Thomas was 19th after clocking in at 1:48.53. Both competitors topped the NCAA 'B' standard in that discipline.
During the lone diving event of the evening, Ilana Zeises also finished 27th in the 3-meter board with a score of 257.55.
Penn State will conclude the Big Ten Championships tomorrow with the final seven events of the meet. Champions will be crowned in the 100-freestyle, 200-backstroke, 200-breaststroke, 200-fly, 1650-free, 400-freestyle relay, and platform diving. Preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. before finals kick off at 6:30.