Feb. 19, 2016

Results

ANN ARBOR, Mich. ââ'¬" Senior Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec) again had a hand in a pair of top five finishes to lead No. 25 Penn State Friday at the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships in Canham Natatorium. The Nittany Lions remain sixth as a team with 474.5 points and one day of competition remaining.

Ackman opened the evening finals leading off a third place effort in the 400 medley relay. She teamed with Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico), Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) and Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) to finish in a season-best 3:35.18. She later posted a season-best of 1:45.16 in the 200 free to place fourth, while Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.) won the B-final in 1:46.40.

Rodriguez also reached an A-final, placing seventh in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.76. Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.) placed 13th in the same event in 1:01.72.

The Lions had a trio in the 400 individual medley B-final, led by Rowe in 10th in 4:12.29. Monika Gonzalez-Hermosillo (Mexico City, Mexico) was 12th in 4:12.83 and followed consecutively by Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) in 4:13.69.

Penn State is trailing Purdue for fifth, as the Boilermakers have 498.5 points.

Thursday 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.), Sinatro and Jones.

Rowe 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. Price also swam a personal record race to place 10th in 1:59.39, while Gonzalez-Hermosillo swam a personal best 1:59.63 in the prelims and placed 15th in the finals in 2:00.29.

Francis and Kately 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.

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 conclude Saturday with preliminaries starting at 11 a.m. live on BTN Plus, while the Saturday finals will be broadcast live on BTN2Go.

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.