PRINCETON, N.J. – Top finishes from Michael Daly and Hayden Harlow led the Penn State men's swimming & diving team to a second-place ranking after two sessions of competition at the Big Al Open hosted by Princeton in Denunzio Pool.
The Nittany Lions totaled 526.5 points on the first of two days of competition to trail the host Tigers (610 points). Northwestern is just a half-point (526.0) behind in third, while Duke (466) and Lehigh (423.5) round-out the five-team field.
Nittany Lion Relays
Penn State's top relay performance of the day was in the men's 200 medley, as Liam Veregin, Brad Johnson, Matthew DiNunzio and Will Roberson touched second, less than a tenth-of-a second shy of first-place Princeton in 1:30.93. The Nittany Lions placed third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:23.63) and 400 medley relay (3:20.15) and fourth in the 800 free relay (6:46.06).
Top Individual Performances
Freshman Michael Daly and sophomore Hayden Harlow led the Nittany Lions with a pair of top-three finishes each on the first day of competition. Daly won the 400 IM in 3:55.86 and was followed by Harlow in second (3:57.02). Additionally, Daly also posted a second-place finish in the 500 freestyle in a season-best 4:28.61, while Harlow led the Lions in the 200 IM with a third-place finish in 1:50.31 and did the same with a sixth-place finish in the 100 breast (56.88).
Following Daly in the 500 free was sophomore Eben Krigger, who also totaled double-digit points with a sixth-place finish (4:34.75). Following Harlow in the 200 IM was freshman Alec Peckmann in seventh (1:53.23), and in the 100 breast was Johnson in eighth (57.30).
Roberson also notched a third-place result, doing so in the 50 free (20.56), and DiNunzio also cracked the Top 10 in the event with a ninth-place finish (20.98). Juliusz Gosieniecki was third in the 100 butterfly in 49.77 seconds and followed by DiNunzio in sixth (50.12).
On the boards, freshman Jonah Cey led Penn State with a third-place finish in the platform, scoring 269.70 in his first career collegiate effort.
Next Up
Penn State will conclude competition in the Big Al Open with the third and final session starting at 10:30 a.m. Additionally, Penn State's Gabe Castano and Hector Garcia-Boissier will compete in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Purdue starting at 5 p.m. The competition at Princeton will be streamed live on ESPN+, while the ACC/Big Ten Challenge will be streamed on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
A fundraiser has been launched to support freshman women's swimmer Nikolette Nolte and her family for costs associated with her leukemia treatment. Any surplus funds will be donated to THON and the Jessie Rees Foundation to help others facing pediatric cancer. Donate at gopsu.info/nikistrong
