Nov. 7, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lion men's and women's swimming and diving teams head to Charlottesville, Va. for a tough early season matchup vs. Virginia, Texas and West Virginia in a two-day meet beginning Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m.
The men's team has started off the 2013 campaign in fine fashion, recording back-to-back wins in its first two meets, earning the No. 20 ranking in the latest CSCAA poll. The opened the season at home with a 153-129 victory over West Virginia in mid-October before picking up a road win at Buffalo last weekend by a score of 155-137.
A number of the Nittany Lions have performed admirably to begin the season, with the team totaling 17 wins in individual events thus far. Senior John Hauser (Pottsville, Pa.) leads the team, winning all four of his individual races this season (50 free, two wins in the 100 free, 200 free). Hauser set the Penn State pool record in the 50 free while reaching the NCAA "B" qualifying mark with a time of 20.14.
Junior Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.) also turned in a record-setting day at Buffalo, breaking the Buffalo pool records in the 100 backstroke with a time of 48.91 and the 200 backstroke, touching the wall in 1:48.20. Savoy now has three individual wins through just two meets.
Penn State's Sean Grier (Hummelstown, Pa.) has already hit the NCAA provisional qualifying mark this season in both the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly events. Grier finished the 100 backstroke in 48.30 in a win over West Virginia and then touched the wall first in 48.10 in the same meet against WVU.
The women's program will look to improve to 2-0 for the fifth time in six years as they go up against the Cavaliers, Mountaineers and Longhorns. Coach Tim Murphy and the Nittany Lions entered the CSCAA poll at No. 25 this season after posting a 152-102 victory over West Virginia in their home opener on Oct. 18.
Sophomores Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.), Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) and Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico) each claimed two individual wins vs. the Mountaineers while Rodriguez also helped the 200 medley relay team to a first place finish.
Jones claimed the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.33 and touched first in the 200 freestyle in 1:50.09, Rowe recorded a first place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 2:00.48 and won the 200 backstroke in 2:03.00 and Rodriguez won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.29 and claimed first in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:18.87.
Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) was also a member of the winning 200 medley relay squad and earned an individual victory in the 50 free as well. The junior clocked in at 23.71, out-touching teammate Kaitlin Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.), who finished second in 23.87.
Megan Siverling (Chester Springs, Pa.), Casey Fazio (Washington, N.J.) and Gabi Shishkoff (Franklin, Mass.) also registered top times in their events. Siverling claimed first in the 1000 freestyle in 10:08.91, Fazio topped the field in the 100 backstroke in 57.31 and Shishkoff touched the wall in 2:03.18 in the 200 IM. The Nittany Lion quartet of Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec), Jones, Wujciak and Fazio closed out the meet with the fastest mark in the 400 freestyle relay, clocking in at 3:26.73.
After this weekend's competition at Virginia, the team has around a month hiatus before returning to the pool for the Texas Invitational, a three day event at the beginning of December. The invite is scheduled to run from Thursday, Dec. 5 through Saturday, Dec. 7.
Check back to GoPSUSports.com for continued coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the 2013-14 season. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/PennStateSWIM and find us on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.