Nov. 14, 2015
PENN STATE
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McCoy Natatorium | University Park, Pa.
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's and women's swimming & diving teams swept the Penn State Invite, placing ahead of Princeton and Connecticut, Saturday afternoon at McCoy Natatorium. The Nittany Lion men totaled 1189.5 points to finish ahead of Princeton (1156.5) and Connecticut (681).
Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) completed a sweep the distance events with a season-best 4:28.78 in the 500 free Saturday. The performance, coupled with a total of four Nittany Lions in the top seven, helped put PSU back into the team lead over Princeton by 15 points. Led by Tim Maurer (Hershey, Pa.) (1:52.23) in second place, Penn State then took six of the top seven places in the 200 backstroke. David Gross (Perryville, Md.) (1:52.41), Nathaniel Bledsoe (Carmel, Ind.) (1:52.76) and Tomer Zamir (Gesher Haziv, Israel) (1:52.94) followed closely in order, to give Penn State a 44-point cushion.
However, Princeton closed the gap to just two points in the 100 free, claiming four of the top five spots. Penn State's Matt Grillo (Montreal, Quebec) placed second in 46.25, and then Princeton retook the lead by 11 points with a 1-2 finish in the 200 breast.
Penn State finished strong to clinch the meet though. Freshman Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) completed a sweep of the diving events with a season-best 377.25 in the 3-meter. He also posted a season-best score Friday of 353.80 in the 1-meter dive. Classmate Rory Lewis (Kensington, Md.) placed second (1:49.15) to lead three Nittany Lions in the top five in the 200 butterfly.
The Lions clinched the meet by placing second and third in the 400 freestyle relay. Grillo, Stasiunas, Lewis and Ryan O'Neill (Howell, N.J.) led the runner-up effort, touching in 3:03.42.
In the morning session, the men saw their greatest success in the 200 freestyle as Stasiunas led a podium sweep in 1:39.94. O'Neill was second in 1:40.55 and was followed in third by Lewis (1:40.74). Princeton claimed the top places in the other events, but Penn State hung tough. The 200 medley relay team of Zamir, Andrew Schuehler, Grillo and Zach Kantz placed second in 1:32.27. Zamir (50.21) and Maurer (50.79) placed second and third in the 100 backstroke. Bledsoe (400 IM, 4:04.72) and Sterg Dikos (Mohton, Pa.) (100 fly, 50.80) and both placed third in their respective events with season-best times.
On Friday, Stasiunas achieved the `B' standard on the men's side en route to a victory in the 1650 free, touching in 15:29.15. Robbie Dickson (Greenwich, N.J.) followed in 15:42.00.
Additionally, on the men's side Maurer and Lewis placed first (1:50.73) and third (1:52.30), respectively, with season best times in the 200 IM. Grillo placed third in the 50 free (20.94) to lead the Lions in the event, in which Princeton claimed the top two places. Zach Kantz (Mount Bethel, Pa.) and Zamir followed in fourth (21.01) and fifth (21.03), respectively.
Next, Penn State will send split squads to the Georgia Invitational hosted by the University of Georgia and the Big Al Invitational hosted by Princeton Dec. 4-6.
Team Scores
1. Princeton - 373
2. Penn State - 372
3. Connecticut - 228
Scoring
Individual = 16 places: 1st -8th 20, 17-11 -- 9th -16th 9, 7-1
Relays = double points & 2 relays per team will score