Feb. 18, 2015
By Meghan Miceli, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - "Top three always has a nice ring to it and we always like to be better," said head coach Tim Murphy with a smile while speaking about the Women's Big Ten Championships.
The Nittany Lions have arrived in Columbus, Ohio, and are anticipating four days of fast swimming.
"They're prepared, they're ready to go," explained Murphy. "They're anxious, but that's okay, we're saving that energy for race time."
The women's team wrapped up their regular season with a 10-1 record, their only loss coming by a few points to Michigan in November. The Nittany Lions will have an opportunity to revisit the Wolverines this week.
"We're up against a lot of stiff good competition, we have to respond to that," said Murphy.
Last year the Nittany Lions captured a third place finish at Big Tens, behind the defending champions, Wisconsin and runner-up Indiana.
"We need to swim aggressive and swim smart. We want to be under control but we want to be a little bold with what we try to do," said Murphy. "As opposed to having the competition impact us, we want to have an impact on the competition."
One of the biggest differences between last year's Big Ten Championships and this year is allowing the C Final to score.
Historically, only the top 16 finishers from prelims (the top two heats) were in a position to score in finals, even though the top 24 finishers were invited back for a second swim.
While allowing the top 24 to put points on the board gives the opportunity for more swimmers to add to their teams score, Murphy does not believe it will sway the outcome of the meet. He does however believe it will impact the atmosphere.
"It's going to give some people a chance to score who have not in the past and it's an incentive to make it back," explained Murphy. "I think it's going to add to the level of excitement, across the board, that's a given."
While swimming is often conveyed as sport focused on individual races, it is actually very team oriented. The Nittany Lions consider themselves a family and each team member plays an important role in contributing to the team's overall performance.
"We're supportive of one another and we have fun competing and practicing against each other," explained senior Carolyn Fittin. "We have developed a great team dynamic throughout the year and I think that's really going show at Big Tens."
The atmosphere at Big Tens has an excitement level of it's own. For many swimmers, it is the culmination of a grueling a season and a final opportunity for best times and to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
For the Nittany Lions the goal is to stay focused and ready to race.
"We need to just take care of ourselves and swim really tough," said Murphy. "There's going to be three, four, people going into the wall at the same time. The difference is going to be who gets their hand on the wall first in those situations."
With tough competition and evenly matched teams across the Big Ten, this year's competition is shaping up to be a fight to the finish.
The meet kicks off this evening with the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays. Individual events begin on Wednesday and continue through Saturday.