Nov. 23, 2016
ROSEMONT, Ill. - Penn State senior Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) was named the Big Ten Men's Swimmer of the Week and Kaelan Freund (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) was tabbed as the league's freshman of the week Wednesday by the Big Ten Conference office.
Ryan has now claimed the Big Ten weekly honor following four of the five meets he has swam in this season. He was also named the CollegeSwimming.com Big Ten Men's Swimmer of the Week Tuesday for the third time this season. Ryan is now the only men's swimmer to rank in the Top 10 in the NCAA in the 50 free, 100 back and 100 free. He won all three this past weekend at the Ohio State Fall Invitational. Ryan is also the only Big Ten swimmer to rank in the Top 10 nationally of both the 50 and 100 free.
In Columbus this past weekend, Ryan won the 50 free, 100 free and 100 back individually and swam on five relays - earning top-five finishes in four - over three days at the Ohio State Invitational. Friday, he swam the ninth-fastest 50 free (19.68 seconds) so far this season in the NCAA in prelims and placed first in the finals (19.77). Saturday, he won the 100 back, swimming his fastest time in prelims (46.23). To conclude the meet, Ryan won the 100 free in a meet record 42.49 to rank fifth in the NCAA.
Freund is emerging as one of Penn State's leading breaststrokers. He placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke in an NCAA B-cut of 54.75 and then won the B-final in the 200 breast in an NCAA B-cut of 1:59.65. The time would have placed him third had he qualified for the A-final. He was also a member of the 400 medley relay team that placed third in 3:12.98.
Following exams and the annual winter training trip, Penn State will return to competition Jan. 13-14 hosting Yale and Rutgers in McCoy Natatorium.