Feb. 4, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's swimming & diving team continued its superb performances from Friday's win over Buffalo into Saturday's 168-101 Senior Meet victory against Lehigh at McCoy Natatorium. Penn State won all 15 events with 11 different Nittany Lions earning victories.
Penn State (4-6) opened the day by honoring its four senior members prior to hitting the water. Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.), Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.), Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.) and Brent Sanderson (Chadds Ford, Pa.) were met by head coach John Hargis on the deck and given their Varsity "S" blankets as part of the program's appreciation.
The Nittany Lions wasted no time in sending their seniors off in style with the 200 medley relay team of Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.), James Wilson (Hershey ,Pa.), Andrew Sideras (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Alden winning in a time of 1:30.48. Alden returned to the pool for the first time in 2012 after an injury suffered earlier in the season. He went on to win the 50 free as well in a time of 21.09.
Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.) captured top honors in the 200 free, winning in 1:42.26. Grier returned to the pool to take first in the 100 back with a winning time of 48.20. Scherer got into the act with a 55.31 swim in the 100 breaststroke as Sanderson followed in second.
Matt Salig (Downingtown, Pa.) put his stamp on the meet in the 200 fly with a 1:49.68 swim. Following Alden's win in the 50 freestyle, Grier won the 100 free (45.93) and Jeff Gomez (Morristown, N.J.) won the 200 back in a time of 1:52.64.
Chris Cipolla (South River, N.J.) won the 200 breaststroke in 2:05.14 before freshman distance standout Nick Ankosko (East Brunswick, N.J.) set a new personal best in the 500 freestyle (4:30.59), besting his next closest finisher by nearly 12 seconds.
In the diving competitions, Alex Marchinski (Shillington, Pa.) swept both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Marchinski earned a score of 306.15 in the 3-meter before winning the 1-meter later in the afternoon (314.63).
Sideras returned to the pool to win the 100 butterfly in a time of 50.33 before Cipolla won his second event of the day, the 400 IM, in a time of 4:04.05. PSU's teamof Sideras, Austin, Grier and Wilson capped the perfect afternoon with a 3:02.25 swim in the 400 freestyle relay.
Penn State improved to 4-2 all-time against Lehigh in the first meeting between the two schools since 1979. The last two meets were cancelled on the very same weekend due to snow and travel issues. Weather outside of McCoy Natatorium was in the low 40s.
The Nittany Lions return to action in a little over two weeks when they take part in the Big Ten Championships. The University of Iowa is hosting this year's event from Wednesday Feb. 22-Saturday, Feb. 25. Penn State will look to improve upon its sixth-place showing in 2011.
--NITTANY LIONS--