IOWA CITY, Iowa. – Penn State sophomore Gabe Castano led the Nittany Lions on the second day of the 2019 Big Ten Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, placing third in the 50 freestyle Thursday at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
In the team standings, Penn State ranks 7th with 233 points in front of Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Michigan State.
Castano finished the 50 free with a NCAA B-Cut time of 19.20, a career best. His time places him second fastest all time in Penn State history. Also in the Championship Final was Will Roberson, who placed eighth in a time of 19.75. Roberson's NCAA B-Cut time of 19.52 in the preliminary round was a career best and earned him a spot in third all-time in Penn State history.
Also earning a spot in the Penn State record books was Hayden Harlow in the 200 IM. Harlow's NCAA B-Cut time of 1:44.98 places him second all-time in the Penn State record books.
"I'm very excited about what we did today. It was a good day for Penn State," said Head Coach Tim Murphy.
Penn State saw a season-best time for the 400 medley relay. Liam Veregin, Hayden Harlow, Matt Dinunzio, and Castano improved their time by almost four seconds finishing the race in 3:10.86 to place ninth.
"We ended the night with the 400 IM relay," Murphy said. "It was a complete team effort. Had a really good vibe with the guys swimming tough."
On the boards, Hector Garcia-Boissier placed fourth in 1-meter recording a 419.40, while teammate Jack Crow finished the event with a score of 297.90, placing 16th.
"Hector had a solid day. He almost held onto third but had a nice comeback and great focus after a hard second round," said Diving Coach Jeff DiNicola. "This is great motivation for the guys for the 3-meter tomorrow."
"We have to be fast in the morning," said Coach Murphy, "We did a good job today. We need to keep being tough. We had a slew of best times so there's a lot to feed off of."
The Penn State men will continue competition at the Big Ten Championships Friday with preliminaries beginning at 12 p.m. and finals starting at 7:30 p.m. All sessions will be 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.
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
