Feb. 14, 2018
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COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Penn State women's swimming and diving team ranks sixth after the opening relays of the 2018 Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championships Wednesday night in Ohio State's McCorkle Aquatic Pavillion Wednesday-Saturday.
The Nittany Lions set season bests in the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays, led by a NCAA B-cut performance and sixth-place finish in the 800, which freshman Camryn Barry (Westlake Village, Calif.), seniors Tommie Dillione (Newtown, Pa.) and Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) and junior Ally McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) combined to finish in 7:07.32.
"Cam led off pretty much on top of her best time, Niki and Tommie were solid, and then Ally really closed out the evening for us running down two other teams," said Penn State head coach Tim Murphy. "It was a remarkable effort on her part.
Penn State opened the evening with a seventh-place finish in the 200 medley relay in a season-best 1:38.80. Recent Big Ten Women's Swimmer of the Week Maddie Hart (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) led off the effort, and was followed by freshman Maddie Cooke (Phoenixville, Pa.) and seniors Price and Katrina Kuhn (Piscataway, N.J.)
"We put some freshmen in some big spots in the relays, and they responded," said Murphy. "The 200 medley relay was flat out solid. Maddie Cooke got us off to a good start - first Big Tens, first relay - wth a nice split. Niki was really good in the 50 fly, and then Katrina had a really nice anchor split."
Penn State totaled 94 points with the performances and trails No. 8 Indiana (118 points), No. 16 Minnesota (112), No. 23 Wisconsin (104), No. 13 Ohio State (104) and Purdue (96). Iowa and Northwestern trail tied for seventh with 88 points. Defending champion No. 5 Michigan ranks 10th with 64 points after suffering a disqualification in the 200 medley relay but rallying to win the 800 free.
"It was a good start," said Murphy. "The team is in high spirits. The ladies that swam did a real nice job. It was a real big step from where we were at this point last year."
All sessions are being streamed live via BTN Plus on BTN2Go. Complimentary access to BTN2Go is available to viewers connected to the internet network of a Big Ten university. Fans elsewhere can sign up for the pay-per-view webcasts.
REMAINING SCHEDULE
Preliminary heats will begin at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with the finals scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. each night.
Thursday, Feb. 15 - PRELIMS at 11 a.m.
500 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
1-Meter Diving - Trials (1 p.m.)
1-Meter Diving - Consolation Final
Thursday, Feb. 15 - FINALS at 6:30 p.m.
500 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
1-Meter Diving
400 Medley Relay
Friday, Feb. 16 - PRELIMS at 11 a.m.
100 Butterfly
400 Individual Medley
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
3-Meter Diving - Trials (1 p.m.)
3-Meter Diving - Consolation Final
Friday, Feb. 16 - FINALS at 6:30 p.m.
100 Butterfly
400 Individual Medley
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
3-Meter Diving
200 Freestyle Relay
Saturday, Feb. 17 - PRELIMS at 11 a.m.
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
Platform Diving - Trials (1 p.m.)
Platform Diving - Consolation Final
1,650 Freestyle (Approx. 4:15 p.m.)
Saturday, Feb. 17 - FINALS at 6:30 p.m.
1,650 Freestyle
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
Platform Diving
400 Freestyle Relay