Jan. 3, 2014
NAPLES, Fla. - The Penn State men's and women's swimming teams joined forces for a unique non-scored dual against North Carolina on Friday in Naples, Fla. The meet featured six mixed relays, two men and two women on each relay.
The Nittany Lions won five of the six relays, which included the 200 medley, 800 freestyle, 400 breaststroke, 400 backstroke and 200 freestyle events.
Penn State's 200 medley relay team featuring Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.), Andrew Schuehler (Camden, N.J.), Mackenzie Powers (Sycamore, Ill.) and Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) led off the dual with a victory, touching in a time of 1:37.05. The Blue and White followed it up with a win in the 800 freestyle with time of 7:06.60 turned in by John Hauser (Pottstown, Pa.), Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.), Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) and Gabi Shishkoff (Franklin, Mass.).
James Wilson (Nottingham, Pa.), Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.), Schuehler and Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico) teamed up to touch the wall first in the 400 breaststroke relay with a time of 4:04.42. Penn State won the next event, the 400 backstroke relay, as well, finishing in 3:32.52. The team consisted of Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.) Powers, Ryan and Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec).
The Nittany Lion swimmers finished the meet just as they started, by recording a victory. Hauser, Ackman, Ryan and Fittin delivered Penn State a win in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:29.62 to put an exclamation mark on the non-traditional training dual.
After the rigorous Florida training is complete the Penn State swimmers and divers will resume traditional competitions to gear up for the Big Ten Championships. The Nittany Lions next meet will be on Friday, Jan. 17 as the men's and women's squads take on Villanova. The dual is set to begin at 2 p.m.