March 30, 2013
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The No. 24 Penn State men's swimming team closed out the 2013 NCAA Championships on Saturday, finishing 20th with a total of 52 points. The Nittany Lions were led by sophomore Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.), who earned honorable mention All-America accolades for the second time in Indianapolis.
Previously earning honorable mention All-America honors last evening in the 100 back, Savoy took 16th in the B Final of the 200 back with a time of 1:42.79. The sophomore, making his second appearance at the NCAAs, had posted a time of 1:41.51 in the preliminaries for ninth place. Savoy most recently recorded a new personal best time of 1:40.69 at the 2013 Big Ten Championships, just .47 seconds off of the all-time Penn State record. Last year at the 2012 NCAA Championships, he also competed individually in the 200 back, placing 25th with a time of 1:44.11.
Also competing in his second individual event at the Championships, sophomore Nick Ankosko (East Brunswick, N.J.) placed 28th in the 1,650 free with a season-best time of 15:06.03. Ankosko holds the school record in the event, posting a time of 15:05.32 at the 2012 Big Ten Championships. He is the first Nittany Lion to compete in the 1,650 free since 2007, and on Thursday evening the sophomore took 26th in the 500 free with a time of 4:19.53, the first Penn Stater to compete in the event since 2002.
Penn State closed out the NCAA Championships with the 400 free relay, with the squad of junior John Hauser (Pottstown, Pa.), junior Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.), Savoy and junior Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.) earning 18th place. The Nittany Lions touched the wall in 2:45.69, just 1.01 seconds off of the all-time school record. The same squad of Hauser, Austin, Savoy and Grier originally qualified for the NCAAs at the Big Ten Championships with a season-best time of 2:54.50. In the 2012 Championships, Austin, Grier and Penn State alums Brian Alden and Scott Marino posted a 20th-place showing with a time of 2:56.65.
Michigan won its Big Ten leading 12th NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships title and first since 1995, totaling 480 team points en route to the national title, while ninth-place Indiana finished in the top 10 with 201 points.
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