Jan. 25, 2014
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Penn State men's swimming and diving team grabbed a solid win in Annapolis on Saturday, defeating the Navy Midshipmen by a final score of 171-127. The win improves the Blue and White's record to 5-1 in dual meets this season.
Penn State was the first to finish in both the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. The 200 medley team of Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.), Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.), James Wilson (Nottingham, Pa.) and Shane Austin (East Brunswick, N.J.) raced to a time of 1:28.34 to give the Nittany Lions its first win of the meet.
The 400 freestyle quartet of Ryan, Austin, Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) and John Hauser (Pottstown, Pa.) was the only team to touch the wall under the three minute mark with a time of 2:59.43, besting the next best time by over four seconds.
In individual events, the Nittany Lions captured a win in one diving competition and seven swimming races. In the three-meter diving even junior T.J. Schenkel (Richboro, Pa.) improved on his career-best mark of 355.15 that he set earlier this season at the Bucknell Invitational with a score of 355.43 for the first place finish. The victory is Schenkel's second in the three-meter competition and fourth overall of the year.
In the pool three swimmers stood above the rest for Penn State in the individual races. Hauser, Ryan and Savoy each claimed two wins for the Nittany Lions. Hauser won both the 100 and 200 freestyle races, completing the 100 in a time of 44.29 and the 200 with a mark of 1:37.94. Both times qualified the senior for the NCAA "B" standard mark.
Just as Hauser dominated the 100 and 200 freestyle, Savoy did the same in the backstroke. The junior first grabbed a victory in the 100, touching the wall in 48.43, which is an NCAA "B" qualifying standard time. As an encore Savoy was the only swimmer to finish the 200 backstroke event in under 1:50.00, posting a mark of 1:47.92.
Unlike Hauser and Savoy, Ryan showed displayed his strengths in a number of strokes. First, the sophomore won the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.20. Ryan followed up the victory with a time of 48.96 in the 100 butterfly to finish first.
Junior Scott Heil (New Brunswick, N.J.) was another Nittany Lion to post a notable performance on the day. The New Jersey native raced to a victory in the 200 individual medley, touching the wall in 1:51.40 for his second official victory of the season and first in the event.
The Nittany Lions will head back to Happy Valley to host their second and final home meet of the season, welcoming St. Bonaventure and Towson to McCoy Natatorium on Saturday, Feb. 1. The men's and women's swimming programs will honor their seniors at the meet with Senior Day. Events are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.