Dec. 5, 2015

Results

ATHENS, Ga./PRINCETON, N.J. ââ'¬" A strong showing in the 400 IM led the No. 15 Penn State women's swimming team at the UGA Fall Invitational in Gabrielsen Natatorium. The team also had swimmers and divers competing in the Big Al Open hosted by Princeton in DeNunzio Pool.

Penn State remains fourth overall as a team in the highly competitive meet.

"Today it was pretty steady, pretty solid and strong," said head coach Tim Murphy. "We had good focus by the team, good energy, and it showed up across the board in every event in some capacity. It was a good day for us."

Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (Mexico City, Mexico) earned a fifth-place finish in the 400 individual medley to lead Penn State's strongest even of the day, touching the wall in a personal best 4:11.80. She now ranks as the sixth fastest performer in program history in the event. Right behind her on the list is Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.), who improved over three seconds in the finals from the preliminary to win the B-final in 4:11.91. Placing right behind her overall was Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.), who also cracked the Penn State Top 10 list in the event in 4:14.81. Allyson McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) was also in the B-final, placing 14th in a personal best 4:19.00. All four times bested the NCAA provisional standard.

"It was a real nice step forward for us in the IMs," added Murphy.

Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico) earned a sixth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a season-best 1:00.85. Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.) was 12th in 1:02.43 after finishing in 1:02.18 in the prelims, joining Rodriguez with a B-cut time.

Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.) also had a strong A-final finish, placing seventh in the 200 freestyle in a personal best and provisional qualifying 1:46.29. Alyson Ackman won the B-final in 1:46.55, also a B-cut time, and was joined by Megan Wujciak (Lvingston, N.J.) in 12th (1:48.02).

Ackman also placed 10th in the 100 backstroke in a provisional qualifying 54.79. Casey Fazio and Allie Pennetti tied behind her in 55.15 for 11th place, while Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) was 16th in 55.96.

Additionally, Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) led Penn State in the 100 butterfly, placing 16th in 55.21 after swimming 54.55 in the prelims.

Penn State's top finish came in the 4x800 freestyle relay, which placed third in a provisional qualifying 7:09.32. The team was composed of Price, Ackman Wujciak and Jones. The Nittany Lions opened the evening with a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:39.25) with the team of Pennetti, Rodriguez, Saloky and Jones.

"I think the ladies and guys are getting excited with what we can come up with by the end of the year [in the 4x800]," said Murphy. "Of course the women were top-eight last year in that event, so it's a nice threshold that sets the bar pretty high for us. They're getting focused, not on just what we are doing here, but what we have next as we line up for the end of the season."

At Princeton, Mackenzie Cornell (Germantown, Md.) placed sixth in the 1-meter dive in 220.55, while Aleksandra Tulacz (Shrewsbury, Mass.)

With 11 NCAA provisional qualifying times on the first day, the Lions got off to a great start.

The distance duo of Francis and Sowinski was strong in the 500 freestyle, as both posted their first provisional qualifying times of the season. Francis qualified for the A-final in a personal best 4:43.87 and improved to 4:43.31 in the evening to ultimately place sixth. Sowinski, Penn State's record holder in the event, swam in the B-final and placed 10th overall in 4:44.26.

Six Nittany Lion swims beat the provisional standard in the 200 individual medley. Rowe tied for the team's top individual finish with a sixth-place effort in 1:58.92, and her 1:58.89 prelim time was a season best. Rodriguez was 13th in 2:00.89 and Sinatro rounded out the B-final in 2:02.00 after touching in 1:59.83 in the prelims. Gonzalez-Hermosillo won the C-final in 1:59.68 to place 17th and Price (2:00.60) and Wujciak (2:01.49) also swam their best times in the finals.

Ackman, Saloky and Jones also achieved their first B-cuts in the 50 freestyle. Ackman swam a season-best 22.81 to place ninth, and Saloky followed in 10th in 22.90. Saloky swam a 22.88 in the preliminaries. Kaitlin Jones was also in the top half of the B-final, placing 12th in 23.08. Her provisional time of 22.87 came in the preliminary heat.

The women strong in both opening relays, placing teams in fourth and eighth in each. The 'A' team of Ackman, Jones, Sinatro and Saloky took fourth in the 200 free relay in 1:30.17, while the 'B' group of Pennetti, Katrina Kuhn (Piscataway, N.J.), Price and Wujiack placed eighth in 1:33.23. In the 400 medley relay, Ackman again led the 'A' team off and was joined by Rodriguez, Saloky and Price, who combined to finish fourth in 3:37.59. Pennetti, Sinatro, Rowe and Wujciak followed in 3:39.61 to place eighth.

At Princeton, two Nittany Lions advanced to the finals. Bridget Moody swam her fastest time in the 500 free in the prelims, clocking in at 5:02.05. Tulacz also reached the finals in the 200 IM, touching in 2:06.44.

Both meets will conclude Sunday. The Georgia meet will resume with preliminary rounds at 9:30 a.m., while the Princeton meet will resume at 10 a.m. Finals in Georgia will start at 3 p.m. and in Princeton at 5 p.m.