Oct. 14, 2016
| PENN STATEat VIRGINIA TECH | |
| | |
Saturday, Oct. 15 - 11 a.m. | |
| Christiansburg Aquatic Center | Christiansburg, Va. | |
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's and women's swimming and diving teams will hit the road for the first time this season, traveling south to Virginia Tech for a dual meet Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
Penn State and Virginia Tech have both gotten off to successful starts this season. According to CollegeSwimming.com, early in the season the Nittany Lion women rank 21st and the men rank 23rd, while the Virginia Tech women rank 11th and the men ninth.
The Series
The Penn State women's team is 4-1 all-time against Virginia Tech, with the first meeting between the teams coming in 2006. The Nittany Lions have won the last three meetings, including last season's in McCoy Natatorium, which the Lions won 183-114.
The Penn State men's team is 0-5 versus Virginia Tech. The teams first met in 2006 and most recently met last season in McCoy Natatorium, where the Blue and White fell to the Hokies 178.5-118.5.
The Nittany Lions
The Penn State men's and women's swimming and diving teams are both 1-0 after convincing wins over Towson in the season opener last Thursday. Three Nittany Lions individual weekly honors from the Big Ten Conference for their performances, as senior Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) was named the Men's Swimmer of the Week, Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) was named the Men's Diver of the Week and Maddie Hart (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) was named the Women's Freshman of the Week.
Ryan earned four golds in his first competition for the Nittany Lions since the 2014-15 season to earn his third career swimmer of the week nod. Individually, the returning Olympian won the 50 freestyle in 20.49 seconds and the 100 free in 44.52 seconds -- more than 2 seconds faster than the next best finisher. Both times rank in the top five nationally so far this season. He also anchored the 200 medley relay (1:31.93) to victory to start the meet and he gave the 200 free relay team a healthy start in the finale.
Garcia posted a score of 319.17 in the 1-meter dive and 337.5 in the 3-meter to sweep both events against Towson. An honorable mention All-American last season, the sophomore earns his first career diver of the week honor and is the first Nittany Lion to be recognized as such since Alex Marchinski on Jan. 4, 2011.
On the women's side, Hart had an impressive debut, joining the Nittany Lions' winning 200 medley effort and also touching first in the 100 butterfly (56.66) and 100 back (56.08).
The women's team is returning NCAA qualifiers Katelyn Sowinski, Casey Francis, Niki Price, Katie Saloky and Megan Wujciak, but will have a youthful lineup that includes 11 freshmen looking to replace the likes of record holders such Alyson Ackman and Melissa Rodriguez. Penn State placed 25th at last season's NCAA Championships.
The men's team returns the NCAA qualifying, sophomore diving duo of Hector Garcia and Jack Crow, while recent Olympian and former NCAA medalist Shane Ryan returns for his senior year after redshirting during the 2015-16 season. The Penn State men also boast an extremely young team with 19 underclassmen to seven underclassmen.
The Opponents
Virginia Tech opened its season by sending select swimmers to the FGCU Classic last weekend. Senior Robert Owen was named ACC Male Swimmer of the Week, while junior Klaudia Nazieblo was named CollegeSwimming.com's ACC Women's Swimmer of the Week. The Hokie men placed first and the women third in the meet, which featured Big Ten teams Ohio State, Rutgers, as well as LSU and Utah.
Nazieblo and senior Jessica Hespeler are coming off All-American seasons to lead the women, while seniors Brandon Fiala and Owen are both returning from career years collegiately and in Olympic Trials to lead the men.
Both programs finished in the top 25 at NCAA Championships last season as the women placed in a tie for 25th with Penn State and the men placed 19th. It marked the fourth time in program history and the fourth time in the last five seasons that both squads finished among the top programs in the country.
Next Up
Penn State will return to Virginia for a tri-meet against Virginia and Michigan Nov. 4-5.