BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Penn State senior captain Ally McHugh led the Nittany Lions on the fourth day of the 2019 Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championships, claiming gold in the 1650 freestyle Saturday at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center.
As a team Penn State, finished ninth with 404 points. Indiana came out on top with the Big Ten title scoring 1,386.5 points.
Senior captain duo Ally McHugh and Katrina Kuhn both received All-Big Ten awards for the weekend. McHugh earned First Team All-Big Ten while Kuhn was a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree.
McHugh completed the race in 15:47.18, about two seconds ahead of Ohio State's Molly Kowal to defend her title in the event. The swim set a new pool record and was McHugh's second swim below the NCAA A-cut time. McHugh also saw a fourth-place finish in the 500 free earlier in the competition.
"Ally struggled in the IM last night, but she dove in and said 'I'm going to win this race'," said Head Coach Tim Murphy, "This was the toughest race she's had in a long time. But, it showed her true grit and toughness."
Freshman Madison Murtagh joined McHugh in the race finishing in 14th overall with a time of 16:29.52, nearly 15 seconds faster than her previous season-best of 16.45.76.
Additionally, junior Maddie Hart competed in the championship final for the 200 butterfly. Hart placed fifth in the race with a time of 1:57.43. The swim earns Hart a NCAA B-cut and holds her at eighth place on the Penn State all-time top times list. It was Hart's second top-five finish of the meet as she previously recorded a fifth-place finish for her swim in the 100 fly earlier in the tournament.
Four other Nittany Lions competed in finals for the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly. Stephanie Szekely finished out the 200 back in 23rd with a time of 1:59.03 after recording a new season-best in the preliminaries (1:58.80), shaving about three seconds off her previously recorded time.
Kate Sheridan set a new season-best for the 100 free completing the race in 50.32 to place 20th. Sophomore Jane Donahue recorded a new season-best in the prelims of 2:15.23 and finished the finals in 23rd overall with a time of 2:15.93. A third underclassman, freshman Brooke Matthias, took home 21st (2:00.14) in the 200 fly after topping her season-best in the prelims 1:59.67.
Freshmen Madison Ledwith, Sheridan and Olivia Jack joined sophomore Elizabeth Gaspari for an eighth-place performance in the 400 free relay in a season-best 3:20.69.
The Penn State women will have a last chance meet prior to the NCAA Championships. The meet, at Liberty University, will take place Mar. 1-3.
Coach Murphy expressed his pride in his team for their performance this weekend, "As a team, we learned a lot. I am proud of this team for sticking together. They had great attitues throughout the weekend and stayed focus. There are a lot of good things to build off of here."
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 was 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
