Oct. 16, 2015
| PENN STATE VS. VIRGINIA TECH |
Saturday, Oct. 3 | McCoy Natatorium Results | Post-Meet Interview
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Led by a pair of event wins by Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico) the Penn State women's swimming and diving team improved to 4-0 with a 183-114 victory over Virginia Tech Friday in the team's home opener in McCoy Natatorium.
Rodriguez turned in her best performance in the 200 breaststroke, swimming an NCAA ‘B'-cut time of 2 minutes, 13.81 seconds to touch first, while fellow countryman Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (Mexico City) touched third in 2:18.60 in the same race. Earlier in the meet, Rodriguez won the 100 breast in 1:02.75, while Haley Sinatro touched third (1:04.32).
"I think the win was important, but I liked the way we swam," said Penn State head coach Tim Murphy. "We talked about being tougher than we've been, and I think we saw some of that. There were a lot of close races, whether it was for first place … or whether it was for fifth place. The women swam tough, so we made some progress in that area."
The Lions swept the podium in the 50 freestyle, led by Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.) in 23.14. She was followed by Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.) (23.36) and Katrina Kuhn (Piscataway, N.J.) (23.80) in order. Jones also earned gold in the 100 free (50.27).
Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec) earned silver twice, trailing Jones in the 100 free (50.67) and helping the Lions yield only a point in the 200 free, placing second in 1:49.40, while teammates Megan Wujciak (Livingston, N.J.) (1:49.72) and Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) (1:51.54) claimed third and fourth, respectively.
Casey Fazio (Washington Township, N.J.) (56.18) and Allie Penetti (Wexford, Pa.) (56.28) led a 1-2 Penn State finish in the 100 backstroke, while Fazio also placed runner-up in the 200 back (2:00.76). Sinatro (2:02.09) and Gonzalez-Hermosillo (2:02.48) also led 1-2 finish in the 200 individual medley.
Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) swam the 200 butterfly in 1:59.72 to win the event, while Gonzalez-Hermosillo (2:00.82) picked up her second bronze. Rowe was the runner-up in the 100 fly (55.48) and was followed by Saloky in third (55.76).
The Nittany Lion distance duo of Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) and Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) had a strong outing. In the meet's second race, Sowinski won the 1000 free in 9:58.37 while Francis touched less than a second later (9:59.30) in second. Francis then won the 500 free in 4:51.92 and was followed by Sowinski in third (4:54.46).
Mackenzie Cornell (Germantown, Md.) led the Lions in the diving events, placing second in both the 1-meter (261.97) and 3-meter (309.75).
Penn State held a comfortable lead from the start, as the team of Pennetti, Sinatro, Saloky and Jones led a 1-2 Penn State finish in the 200 medley relay in 1:41.21 in the meet's first race. Jones, Ackman, Saloky and Kuhn closed the meet on a winning note, claiming the 400 free relay in 3:24.17.
Virginia Tech fell to 0-1, as the meet was its season-opener.
Penn State will next travel to Michigan to face both the Wolverines and Virginia in a tri-meet Oct. 31-Nov. 1.