UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State swimming & diving is opening the New Year against Buffalo, as the women's swimming team will host Buffalo at the McCoy Natatorium in a dual meet Friday and Saturday, while the men's and women's diving will travel to Buffalo for the Buffalo Diving Invitational and compete in a two-day meet beginning Saturday.
Swimming at Penn State, the women's team will compete on Friday starting at 5 p.m. and continue Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Saturday will be Camper Reunion Day as the program welcomes its past camp participants back to McCoy Natatorium.
The Nittany Lions are competing in the first meet of the second half of the season following a strong showing at the mid-season meet in Princeton with 33 combined personal bests for the men and women, and a second-place finish for the women.
The Penn State divers will contest Buffalo in the women's 1-meter, men's 3-meter, and men's and women's platform beginning Saturday at 11 a.m. in Alumni Arena Pool. The team is coming off an exemplary performance at the Penn State Invitational held in Coral Springs, Fla. last weekend with an NCAA Zones qualifying score and team bests in the tower dive. They will face Alfred State, Niagara, St. Bonaventure and Toledo.
The Penn State men's swimmers are not competing this weekend.
The Nittany Lions
The Penn State women are let by Maddie Cooke, who most recently swam an Olympic Trials cut and NCAA B-Cut time of 22.52 seconds in the 50 freestyle at the Princeton Invitational in addition to winning the 100 breaststroke with a career-best time of 1:01.02.
Maddie Hart also had another standout meet at Princeton with three event wins in the 100 butterfly (52.78), 100 backstroke (53.21), and 200 backstroke (1:55.05).
Three more Nittany Lions also placed first at the Princeton Invitational. Brooke Matthias, Abbie Amdor, and Margaret Markvardt all placed first throughout the meet, with Matthias' win coming in the 200 fly (1:58.23), Amdor's in the 200 free (1:47.12), and Markvardt's in 200 IM (2:01.18).
This season, the women's team has a record of 4-2 with nine of the women ranking in the top 100 in the NCAA in their respective races. In the Big Ten rankings, Cooke is ranked seventh in the 50 free, Amdor is ranked sixth in the 100 free, and Maddie Hart is ranked fourth in the 100 back and 100 fly, and fifth in the 200 back.
The Bulls
Buffalo is 1-1 this season and most recently competed at the Ohio State Invite, placing seventh. This is the first meeting in the pool between Penn State and Buffalo.
Next Up
The Penn State divers will head to Annapolis, Md. for the three-day Navy Diving Invitational, starting Friday, January 17 and concluding Sunday, January 19 while men's and women's swim will host Villanova for the Senior Day meet on Friday, January 31 at 4 p.m.
Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM, on Instagram at @pennstateswimdive, and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
