Feb. 23, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Penn State swimming & diving squad kicked off the 2011 Big Ten Championships with a school-record time in the 200 medley relay on Wednesday night at the Minnesota Aquatic Center. The Nittany Lions sit in 5th place through one of four days at the championship meet.
Behind a scintillating 19.18 freestyle anchor leg by junior Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.), PSU finished third in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:25.94, just missing the NCAA "A" cut and automatic entry to the NCAA Championships by .28 of second. The Nittany Lions shattered the previous school record of 1:26.59, set in 2009, by .65.
Sophomore Graham Risley (Riverside, Ill.) led off with a 21.89 backstroke leg putting the Lions in first place through the first quarter of the race. Junior Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.) went 23.60 in his breaststroke leg, while freshman Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.) swam 21.27 in the backstroke before giving way to Alden, who closed within .37 of 2nd-place Ohio State and .55 of champion Michigan.
Penn State captured its second NCAA "B" cut time of the day in the 800 freestyle relay with Alden leading the squad off the blocks. Alden swam lead off in a time of 1:36.90 before junior Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.) posted a 1:35.86. Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.) and James Wilson (Nottingham, Pa.) finished off the relay with legs of 1:38.00 and 1:38.63, respectively for the final time of 6:29.39 and a tie for 7th place. The foursome was 1.28 second off the 6:28.11 school-record time set last year.
Penn State racked 55 points through the first two events for 5th place overall. Michigan won both relays and leads the championship with 80 points followed by Ohio State (68), Minnesota (60) and Indiana (58). PSU leads Purdue (48), Iowa and Wisconsin (46), Northwestern (38) and Michigan State (37).
The Nittany Lions will return to competition tomorrow morning when the preliminary heats for the 500 freestyle, 200 IM and 50 free begin at Noon ET. The 1-meter diving competition will start around 2:00 p.m. ET and the finals for swimming and diving begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.
--NITTANY LIONS--