Feb. 3, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's swimming & diving team won all 11 swimming events as the Nittany Lions dispatched Buffalo, 138-97. Penn State improves to 3-6 on the year, while Buffalo dropped its first dual meet of the season.
Penn State's young corps of Andrew Sideras (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.) emphatically put an end to PSU's three-dual skid. Each swimmer won three events as Sideras captured the 50 free (20.66), 100 free (43.38) and swam on the winning 200 freestyle relay to cap the night. On Sideras's team was Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.), Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.) and Jeff Young (Hershey, Pa.) who finished in a time of 1:22.15, a narrow victory by .33.
Savoy opened the night with a win in the 400 medley relay, leading off the backstroke leg in a time of 3:16.52 as Penn State beat Buffalo by over seven seconds. Savoy gave way to Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.), Grier and Austin for the meet's opening victory. Savoy returned to win the 200 IM (1:53.17) and the 200 backstroke (1:48.91).
Penn State had seven multi-event winners on Friday evening as the Lions downed Buffalo for the seventh straight time in the all-time series. Helping lead the way was freshman Nick Ankosko (East Brunswick, N.J.) who won the mile and 500 freestyle events. Swimming the full 1,650 for the first time in his collegiate career, Ankosko swam away from the field in a time of 15:38.47, besting fellow classmate Kurt Ratcliff (Centreville, Va.), who finished in second, by 13 seconds. Ankosko would later win the 500 with a time of 4:35.73, out-pacing Nittany Lion Seth Wensel (Christiansburg, Va.) by nearly eight seconds as PSU went 1-2 in both distance freestyle events.
Matt Salig (Downingtown, Pa.) dominated his two events winning the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:40.21 and the 200 butterfly in 1:49.39. Salig won the 200 fly by over four seconds as Ratcliff was the second-place finisher. Penn State's other individual winner on Friday evening was Scherer who took home top honors in the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:03.78.
In the two diving events, Alex Marchinski (Shillington, Pa.) was third in the 1-meter springboard event with a season-high score of 310.50. He also finished third in the 3-meter competition with a season-best 308.85.
Penn State will honor its four seniors--Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.), Scherer, Marino and Brent Sanderson (Chadds Ford, Pa.)--on Saturday as the Nittany Lions face Lehigh at 1:00 p.m. The Senior Meet ceremonies will take place prior to the Lehigh meet along with the Nittany Lion women, who swim against the Mountain Hawks and Saint Francis (Pa.).
--NITTANY LIONS--