Feb. 18, 2016

Results

ANN ARBOR, Mich. ââ'¬" Senior Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec) had a hand in a pair of top five finishes to lead No. 25 Penn State Thursday at the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships in Canham Natatorium. The Nittany Lions rank sixth as a team with 271.5 points.

No. 22 Minnesota and No. 12 Wisconsin used strong efforts in the 1-meter dive to move ahead of Penn State. Minnesota sits fourth with 298.5 points while the Badgers hold just a one point advantage over the Nittany Lions for fifth.

"We're right in the thick of it with Minnesota, Wisconsin and Purdue," said head coach Tim Murphy. "My first reaction is we had a solid day and that we need to be better as a team tomorrow morning. We just have to get more swims in at night and more swims in A-finals. It's just kind of a fact, there's nothing negative about it, we just have to get ourselves in a position to score more points and stay with them."

Individually, Ackman placed fifth in the 50 freestyle, swimming a personal best 22.53 in the preliminaries and touching in 22.59 in the evening finals. She also led off the Nittany Lions' 200 free relay effort, which placed fourth in a season-best 1:29.41 with help from Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.), Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.) and Kaitlin Jones.

"[Aly] is our captain and she's our leader," said Murphy. "She knows how prepare herself and she responds. She's just been real solid as you would expect her to be, and tomorrow's a big day for her with the 200 free."

Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) also reached an A-final, ultimately tying for sixth in the 200 IM in a personal best 1:58.06 to rank as the third fastest performer in the event in Penn State history. Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) also swam a personal record race to place 10th in 1:59.39, while Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (Mexico City, Mexico) swam a personal best 1:59.63 in the prelims and placed 15th in the finals in 2:00.29.

Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) and Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) placed 12th and 16th, respectively in the 500 freestyle. The pair tied in the preliminaries, both touching in a season-best 4:42.06 to place ninth. The time was also a personal best for Francis. Francis finished in 4:42.78 in the finals, while Sowinski touched in 4:51.16.

"We're doing some good things; we just have to get a little tougher and just take on the challenge," said Murphy. "It's not going to get any easier, but the girls are in good spirits and there is a lot of energy on the deck. I think they're supporting each other well. We're in the trenches here and we have to respond."

The opening night Wednesday featured a pair of relays. The Nittany Lions had their best performance in the 800 freestyle relay, as the team of Ackman, Megan Wujciak (Livingston, N.J.), Price and Jones touched in fourth place with a season-best and NCAA A-cut time of 7:05.67.

Penn State finished sixth in the 200-medley relay, as Allie Pennetti (Wexford, Pa.), Sinatro, Saloky and Jones combined to finish in a season-best 1:38.97.

The four-day meet is scheduled to continue Friday with preliminaries starting at 11 a.m. and finals starting at 6:30. The action Wednesday through the Saturday prelims will be covered live on BTN Plus, while the Saturday finals will be broadcast live on BTN2Go.

FRIDAY, FEB. 19
Day Three Prelims: 11 a.m.
400-yard Individual Medley
100-yard Butterfly
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
3M Diving (Prelims & Consolation Finals, 1 p.m.)

Day Three Finals: 6:30 p.m.
400-yard Medley Relay
400-yard Individual Medley
100-yard Butterfly
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
3M Diving

SATURDAY, FEB. 20
Day Four Prelims: 11 a.m.
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (Prelims & Consolation Finals, 1 p.m.)
1,650-yard Freestyle

Day Four Finals: 6:30 p.m.
1,650-yard Freestyle
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving
400-yard Freestyle Relay

Television Coverage
BTN will air the Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championships on Monday, Feb. 22 at 10 p.m. ET.

Live Coverage
Wednesday evening Finals: BTN Plus

Thursday morning Prelims: BTN Plus
Thursday evening Finals: BTN Plus

Friday morning Prelims: BTN Plus
Friday evening Finals: BTN Plus

Saturday morning Prelims: BTN Plus
Saturday evening Finals: BTN2Go