FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (February 18, 2017)
Web Release:

McHugh Named Second-Team All-B1G
Penn State places eighth at Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championships

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A silver medalist Friday, Penn State sophomore Ally McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) was named to the All-Big Ten second team as the Nittany Lions concluded competition at the 2017 Big Ten Championships Saturday in the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the campus of Purdue University.

Penn State finished eighth as a team with 453 points, edging Rutgers, which finished with 446. Michigan won its second-straight Big Ten title with 1,287 points.

"They've really emphasized a theme the past month or so about sticking together and they did a good job with that," said Murphy. "I asked them to make their presence felt, both on the deck and, more importantly, in the water, and they did that."

Senior Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) led Penn State on the final day, placing sixth in the 200 butterfly in 1:57.08 after swimming a season-best 1:56.78 in the prelims.

McHugh was not done scoring points for the Nittany Lions, as she continued her string of personal bests by leading the team in the 1,650 free, finishing it in 16:07.69 to place ninth and become the third-fastest performer all-time at Penn State in the event. Not far behind was Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) placing 10th in 16:10.35, while Amber Glenn (Ventnor, N.J.) also scored with a 23rd place finish (16:45.74).

The 200 breaststroke yielded a pair of scorers as well, as Annalee Johnson posted a person best and B-cut time of 2:13.67 to place 20th and Emily Harris (Downington, Pa.) placed 24th in 2:16.49.

Also scoring individually on the evening were Siena Salvaggio (Allentown, Pa.) in the 100 free (19th, 49.82) and Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.), in the 200 back (24th, 1:59.52).

The Lions battled back into eighth place with an eighth-place finish in the 400 free relay to close the meet. Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.), Price, Tommie Dillione (Newtown, Pa.) and Salvaggio combined to finish in 3:18.35.

"It was a nice way to finish it off, getting on the podium for the relay," said Murphy.

On Friday, McHugh set a new Penn State 400 IM record by touching in 4:06.27. The previous record was 4:06.85 set by Gabrielle Shishkoff in 2014. McHugh nearly eclipsed the record in the preliminaries, also ranking second at 4:06.91. Ohio State's Lindsey Clary won gold in the event in an NCAA A-cut 4:04.09. Francis placed 14th in 4:15.44 the same event, while Megan Wujciak (Livingston, N.J.) was 20th in 4:17.84. Both times were B-cuts.

Also drawing recognition on the evening was senior Mackenzie Hornibrook (West Chester, Pa.), who was recognized as a Big Ten Sportsmanship winner prior to the start of the finals.

The Nittany Lions also had individual finalists in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

Five Lions reached the 200 free finals, led by Dillione and Salvaggio in the B final. Dillione swam identical personal-best and NCAA B-cut times of 1:46.93 in both the prelims and finals to place 14th. Salvaggio was 16th in 1:48.08 after setting a personal best and B-cut of 1:46.90 in the prelims.

Price and Saloky both reached the B final in the 100 fly. Price was 13th in a season-best 53.82, while Saloky was 14th in 53.98 after swimming a season best 53.43 in the preliminaries. Price and Saloky's times were both NCAA B-cuts.

Saloky, Price, Hannah Zurmuhl (Perkasie, Pa.) and Salvaggio teamed up for a sixth-place finish in the 200 free relay in a season-best 1:31.01 to close out the evening.

Mackenzie Cornell (Germantown, Md.) placed 22nd in the 3-meter dive with a score of 269.00.

On Thursday, Penn State had four representatives advance to the finals of the 500 freestyle and Saloky reached the A final of the 50 free to lead the team. Saloky touched eighth in her first Big Ten A-finals appearance in 22.60 seconds. She became the third-fastest Penn State performer in the event all-time in the preliminaries with a personal-best of 22.39 that ranked her fourth entering the finals.

Francis and Salvaggio led a quartet of 500 free finalists in the 'B' final. Francis placed 12th in a season-best 4:42.59, and Salvaggio placed 14th in a personal-best 4:44.28. McHugh and Sowinski both reached the C-final. McHugh was the 24th and final preliminary qualifier, but she improved by more than five seconds in the finals to touch in 4:41.70, less than one second off of the Penn State record to now rank as the second fastest performer all-time in the event for the Lions. The time was good for second in the heat, which placed her 18th overall. Sowinski placed 24th (4:51.85).

The Big Ten Network will also televise Saturday's finals Sunday, Feb. 19 at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The Penn State women will next compete at the Ohio State Last Chance Meet next weekend, while the men will begin competition at their Big Ten Championship meet at Ohio State Wednesday.

"We had a little bit of everything at this meet," said Murphy. "A lot to be proud of, some lessons learned - both in the good way and the hard way - and we're a better team across the board from when the meet started, and that's one of the things we wanted to get accomplished.

"So this one is in the books, we'll find out who has qualified for NCAA's, maybe pick up a few more at the last chance meet next weekend, and we'll do it all over again Wednesday with the men."

2017 Big Ten Individual Honors
Swimmer of the Championships: Lilly King, Indiana
Diver of the Championships: Yu Zhou, Minnesota
Freshman of the Year: Tevyn Waddell, Minnesota

2017 All-Big Ten Teams
First Team
Gia Dalesandro, Indiana
Kennedy Goss, Indiana
Lilly King, Indiana
Jessica Parratto, Indiana
Alexandra Rockett, Indiana
Holly Spears, Indiana
Yirong Bi, Michigan
Gabrielle Deloof, Michigan
Siobhan Haughey, Michigan
G Ryan, Michigan
Zoe Avestruz, Minnesota
Lindsey Horejsi, Minnesota
Danielle Nack, Minnesota
Tevyn Waddell, Minnesota
Yu Zhou, Minnesota
Lindsay Clary, Ohio State
Liz Li, Ohio State
Marissa Berg, Wisconsin
Chase Kinney, Wisconsin
Cierra Runge, Wisconsin
Emmy Sehmann, Wisconsin
Jessica Unicomb, Wisconsin

Second Team
Catherine Deloof, Michigan
Vanessa Krause, Michigan
Rebecca Postoll, Michigan
Clara Smiddy, Michigan
Kierra Smith, Minnesota
Anna Filipcic, Nebraska
Olivia Rosendahl, Northwestern
Maria Coy, Ohio State
Macie McNichols, Ohio State
Cheyenne Meek, Ohio State
Allyson McHugh, Penn State
Abigail Jagdfeld, Wisconsin

Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Fiona McDermott, Illinois
Stephanie Marchuk, Indiana
Serena Wanasek, Iowa
Allie Murphy, Michigan
Emily Brunett, Michigan State
Breanne Siwicki, Minnesota
Jacqueline Jeschke, Nebraska
Lauren Abruzzo, Northwestern
Elizabeth Auckley, Ohio State
Mackenzie Hornibrook, Penn State
Danielle Auckley, Purdue