Nov. 1, 2016
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) will represent the Penn State men and Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) and Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) will represent the Penn State women as the Big Ten's best will take on members of the USA Swimming National team in the USA College Challenge, presented by arena, Nov. 12-13 at the Indiana University Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis.
Ten swimmers, including eight medalists, from the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team will be in action. Among the 2016 Olympians expected to swim in Indianapolis are medalists Lilly King (Evansville, Ind./Indiana), Cody Miller (Las Vegas, Nev.), Blake Pieroni (Valparaiso, Ind./Indiana), Cierra Runge (Cochranville, Pa./Wisconsin), Tom Shields (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Kelsi Worrell (Westhampton, N.J.).
Other Olympians slated to swim include Ryan, who swam for Ireland in Rio, and Jacob Pebley (Corvallis, Ore.) and Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Northwestern). Miller, Pebley, Shields, Smith, Weir and Worrell will swim for Team USA, while current collegiate standouts King, Pieroni, Runge and Wilimovsky are on the Big Ten roster. All schools in the Big Ten Conference will be represented at the USA College Challenge.
The 2016-17 USA Swimming National Junior Team will be represented on Team USA with five men and five women.
The two-day, short-course yards dual meet consists of two sessions -- Saturday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. ET and Sunday, Nov. 13 at 11:30 a.m. All-session tickets cost $35 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under. Single-day tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for children. Click here to purchase tickets.
The Big Ten Network will televise both sessions of the meet on Sunday, Nov. 13. The Nov. 12 session will air on delay at 10 a.m. ET, followed by a live broadcast of the Nov. 13 session from noon-2 p.m. Both sessions also will stream live online and via the BTN2GO app.
Bernie Guenther (play-by-play) and Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines (analyst) will call the action from Indianapolis for the Big Ten Network.
Ryan is off to a strong start in his return to Penn State after spending the 2015-16 academic year in Ireland training for the Rio Games. Ryan was a semifinalist in the 100-meter backstroke in Rio and now ranks second the NCAA in the 100-yard backstroke at 47.01 seconds. He is a two-time medalist in the 100 back at the NCAA Championships.
On the women's side, Penn State is sending its formidable distance duo of Francis and Sowinski. Both competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials and NCAA Championships last season, and Francis set new Penn State and McCoy Natatorium records in the mile.
About USA Swimming
As the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming is a 400,000-member service organization that promotes the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events and education. Our membership is comprised of swimmers from the age group level to the Olympic Team, as well as coaches and volunteers. USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games, and strives to serve the sport through its core objectives: Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success. For more information, visit www.usaswimming.org.
About the Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in the lives of students competing in intercollegiate athletics and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. The broad-based programs of the 14 Big Ten institutions will provide over $200 million in direct financial support to more than 9,500 students for more than 11,000 participation opportunities on 350 teams in 42 different sports. The Big Ten sponsors 28 official conference sports, 14 for men and 14 for women, including the addition of men's ice hockey and men's and women's lacrosse since 2013. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.