Feb. 4, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's swimming and diving team cruised to victories over Lehigh and Saint Francis on Senior Day, Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions won all 16 events on the day. Penn State has one more even remaining before the Big Ten Championships.
Penn State opened the day by honoring its seven senior members prior to hitting the water. Alexa Hetzel (Metuchen, N.J.), Sam Palser (Chester Springs, Pa.), Katie Pulos (Rosemont, Pa.), Kristen Rodman (Lansdale, Pa.), Rose Snyder (Harmony, Pa.), Erin Thomas (Bangor, Maine) and Emily Wolfarth (Cranberry Township, Pa.) will compete for the final time at McCoy Natatorium this weekend and will be honored prior to the Lehigh dual were met by head coach John Hargis on the deck and given their Varsity "S" blankets as part of the program's appreciation.
The meet started with the 200 medley relay, where junior Merrit Krawczyk (Kingwood, Texas), Pulos, sophomore Chelsea Weeedman (Poway, Calif.) and sophomore Brynja Winnan (West Windsor, N.J.) took first place with a time of 1:44.57. Weedman additionally won her second event of the day over in the 200 backstroke, posting a mark of 2:03.13.
Rodman had a great day in the pool as well, as she won the 100 backstroke (56.97) and the 100 freestyle (51.53). In the second event of the meet, the 1000 freestyle, freshman Megan Siverling (Havertown, Pa.) took first place, clocking a time of 10:23.54.
Other swimming victories included junior Amy Modglin (Fort Myers, Fla.) in the 200 backstroke (1:51.40), freshman Caitlyn Karr (Reading, Pa.) in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.27), sophomore Mackenzie Powers (Sycamore, Ill.) in the 200 butterfly (2:02.92), junior Paige Whitmire (Lederach, Pa.) in the 50 freestyle (23.24), and junior Amy Lewis (Rudolph, Wis.) in the 200 breaststroke (2:22.93).
Junior Katie O'Connell (Andover, Mass.) won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
Check back to GoPSUsports.com for continued updates throughout the 2011 season.