March 26, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Penn State men's swimming team capped its three-day stay at the NCAA Championships hosted by the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center on Saturday.
Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.) kicked off the third day of competition for Penn State with a 1:46.05 swim in the 200 backstroke, good for 32nd place. Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.) swam 44.27 in the 100 backstroke for 43rd place.
PSU had a pair of swimmers in the 200 breaststroke as Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.) and Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.) finished 29th and 34th, respectively. Scherer posted a time of 1:57.48, while Marino went 1:59.04.
Marino, Alden, and Grier joined Graham Risley (Riverside, Ill.), who led off the 400 freestyle relay for the Nittany Lions. The foursome swam a time of 2:57.91 to finish in a tie for 19th place, finishing Penn State's NCAA Championships in the afternoon.
The Nittany Lions earned 14 points for their All-American 200 medley relay that swam to 10th place on Friday night. Aside from Alden, the other four Penn State swimmers made their respective debut performances at NCAAs. The Nittany Lion squad made great strides during the 2010-11 season as the five NCAA representatives was a four-swimmer improvement from last year where no PSU athlete made All-America.
The NCAA showing followed up a sixth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, which saw Penn State improve a spot from the year before. None of the NCAA participants were seniors as Penn State returns the core of its swimming & diving strengths, while welcoming an impressive crop of incoming recruits.
--NITTANY LIONS--