Nov. 18, 2016
| PENN STATE @ OHIO STATE FALL INVITATIONAL | |
| | |
Friday-Saturday, Nov. 18-20 | |
| McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion | Columbus, Ohio | |
| MEET LINKS | |
TV: ESPN2 -->Swimming and Diving BlogFollow Us: @PennStateSWIM | Facebook | InstagramMeet Central
| Meet Information
COLUMBUS, Ohio. -- Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) won the 50 freestyle on the men's side and Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.) and Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) both reached 'A' finals on the women's side to lead Penn State swimming & diving on the first day of the Ohio State Fall Invitational Friday in the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
The men currently sit fifth with 116 points, while the women are seventh with 61 points. No. 25 Ohio State leads on the men's side, while No. 1 Stanford leads on the women's side.
Individually, the Lions totaled 16 best-times and five NCAA 'B'-cut times.
"It was a good first night," said Penn State head coach Tim Murphy. "Through the rest of the weekend we'll be looking to continue to find our groove, and my challenge to the team is to keep putting in the good work and come in tomorrow morning ready to go again. It was a good start to the weekend, but we want to raise the bar as a group as we look towards the rest of the meet and the second half of the season."
Ryan won the 50 freestyle, touching in 19.68 in the preliminaries and 19.77 in the finals. The season-best 19.68 time ranks him fourth in the event in the NCAA so far this season. Tomer Zamir (Gesher Haziv, Israel) also had success in the event, reaching the 'B' final and placing 15th in 20.45 seconds.
Ryan also led the 400 medley relay to a bronze to cap the evening, swimming an opening split of 45.95 in the backstroke. Kaelan Freund (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada), Sterg Dikos (Mohnton, Pa.) and Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) completed the effort in 3:12.98.
Saloky set a personal best in the 50 free preliminaries of 22.57 seconds, surpassing the NCAA 'B' standard, and placed 10th overall in the finals in 23.00. Additionally, Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) and Siena Salvaggio (Allentown, Pa.) both reached the 'B' final in the event, placing 16th (23.13) and 20th (23.50), respectively.
Francis led Penn State in the women's 500 freestyle reaching the 'A' final with a preliminary time of 4:46.09 and ultimately placing ninth in 4:48.51. Stanford freshman and U.S. gold medalist Katie Ledecky won the event in an American record 4:26.46. Francis led a contingent of six Nittany Lions in the finals of the event, as Ally McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) both reached the 'B' final, placing 15th (4:48.99) and 19th (4:52.20), respectively.
JP Cervone (Sao Paulo, Brazil) led the Lions in the men's 500 freestyle with an NCAA 'B' cut of 4:24.83 to win the 'B' final and place 11th overall.
Two men's divers reached the finals in the 1-meter led by Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain), who was second with a score of 371.65 after the preliminaries and ended up in fifth place after scoring 326.40 in the finals. Connor Scanlon (Laurel, Md.) followed in sixth with a finals score of 314.95.
Junior Emily Harris (Downington, Pa.) swam her first NCAA 'B' cut to lead four Nittany Lion finalists in the 200 IM, placing second in the 'C' final in a personal-best 2:01.52.
Freshman Liam Veregin (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) led the men in the 200 IM, placing 19th in 1:52.85.
Competition for Day 2 of the meet will resume Saturday at 9 a.m. with preliminaries, and finals will begin at 5 p.m.