Feb. 7, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's and women's swimming and diving teams will look to wrap up its regular season schedule this weekend at the Ohio State Invitational before focusing on the upcoming Big Ten Championships. The competition will go all day on Saturday and Sunday.
Both the men's and women's teams will not be traveling their full squad to Columbus, Ohio, as 10 athletes will race from the women's side, while eight swimmers will compete from the men's squad.
The Nittany Lion women that will feature at the two-day invite will be Bridget Moody (Port Washington, N.Y.), Kerry Treusdell (Churchville, Md.), Allie Pennetti (Wexford, Pa.), Arielle Krigger (Allison Park, Pa.), Madison Nieves (Jamestown, N.Y.), Sarah Somers (Haverford, Pa.), Hannah Matheson (Skillman, N.J.), Annie Valentine (Dearborn, Mich.), Brynja Winnan (West Windsor, N.J.) and Jenna Bickel (Slingerlands, N.Y.).
The eight Penn State men that will swim include Andrew Eiken (Naperville, Ill.), Philip Kang (Leonia, N.J.), Bobby Hilzen (Glen Rock, N.J), Tim Maurer (Hershey, Pa.), Harrison Grimm (Fairview, Pa.), Max Byers (Glen Carbon, Ill.), Peter Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) and Larry Virgilio (Pine Bush, N.Y.).
On the women's side Bickel turned in two of her best times of the year last Saturday in the final home meet of the season. The sophomore touched the wall in a season-best 58.04 in the 100 back and turned in a season-best time of 2:05.17 in the 200 back as well.
Matheson set some of her personal-best times earlier in the season at the Texas Invitational, posting marks of 56.83 and 2:03.19 in the 100 and 200 fly, respectively.
Moody looks to continue improving in the 1000 freestyle event after setting a season-best mark at the dual with Villanova, clocking in at 10:21.17. The freshman has also competed in the 100, 200 and 500 free for the Nittany Lions this season.
Nieves notched a season-best clip last weekend as well, touching the wall in 25.84 in the 50 freestyle, nearly a second faster than her previous best of 26.56 from three weeks ago.
The group of eight men swimmers has turned in a number of top-three performances in individual races in recent weeks. At the dual versus Villanova, Eiken finished second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:46.87 and third in the 200 freestyle, touching the wall in 1:45.11.
Another Nittany Lion to record a second place finish over the last month is Tim Maurer. The redshirt sophomore came in second last weekend in the home meet versus Towson and St. Bonaventure in the 200 individual medley with a mark of 1:53.74. Finishing just behind Maurer in the event was Kang, who recorded a mark of 1:54.72, the third fastest time in the event.
Other notable performances have been turned in from the trio of Byers, Fittin and Grimm. Byers finished third in the 100 breaststroke in the dual versus Towson and St. Bonaventure with a time of 58.05, while Fittin and Grimm each grabbed third place in the dual at Villanova. Grimm finished the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.17 and Fittin was the third to touch the wall in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.72.
Following this weekend's invite, the Big Ten Championships await both the men's and women's teams. The women will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. for the four day competition, which begins on Wednesday, February 19 and finishes on Saturday, February 22. The men's Big Ten Championships will be held in Ann Arbor, Mich. and go from Wednesday, February 26 through Saturday, March 1.