IOWA CITY, IOWA – The Penn State women's swimming and diving team is set to compete at the Big Ten Championships hosted by University of Iowa in the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium from Wednesday through Saturday.
SCHEDULE
The event begins at 6 p.m. ET Wednesday with the timed finals of the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay. Preliminary heats will begin at noon ET on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with the finals scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET each night.
Wednesday, Feb. 19 – RELAYS at 6 p.m. ET
200 Medley Relay
800 Freestyle Relay
Thursday, Feb. 20 – PRELIMS at noon ET
500 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
1-Meter Diving – Trials (2 p.m. ET)
1-Meter Diving – Consolation Final
Thursday, Feb. 20 – FINALS at 7:30 p.m. ET
500 Freestyle
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
1-Meter Diving
400 Medley Relay
Friday, Feb. 21 – PRELIMS noon ET
100 Butterfly
400 Individual Medley
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
3-Meter Diving – Trials (2 p.m. ET)
3-Meter Diving – Consolation Final
Friday, Feb. 21 – FINALS at 7:30 p.m. ET
100 Butterfly
400 Individual Medley
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
3-Meter Diving
200 Freestyle Relay
Saturday, Feb. 22 – PRELIMS at noon ET
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
Platform Diving – Trials (2 p.m. ET)
Platform Diving – Consolation Finals
Saturday, Feb. 22 – FINALS at 7:30 p.m. ET
1650 Freestyle (first heat – 5:15 p.m. ET)
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
Platform Diving Finals
400 Freestyle Relay
COVERAGE
The four-day meet is scheduled to commence with relay finals Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET, and continue Thursday through Saturday with preliminaries starting at noon ET and finals at 7:30 p.m. ET. All sessions will be streamed live via BTN Plus. The Saturday finals will be aired live on BTN and the FoxSports app.
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2020 Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championships will be on sale through the University of Iowa Ticket Office. Tickets may be pre-ordered through hawkeyesports.com or by contacting the ticket office at (800) 424-2957. During the championships, tickets can be purchased inside the main entrance of the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
THE MEET
The Nittany Lions will face some of the toughest competition in the country as five conference teams enter the event as members of the Top 25. Michigan leads the conference ranking first in the nation followed by No. 7 Ohio State, No. 16 Northwestern No. 21 Indiana, and No. 23 Minnesota.
Penn State finished ninth in the 2019 Big Ten Championship, led by since-graduated Ally McHugh's three top-10 finishes, including a championship in the mile and fourth-place finish in the 500 free. Senior Maddie Hart is Penn State's top-finishing returner, as she joined McHugh with two top-five finishes. Hart touched fifth in both the 200 fly and 100 fly and was a B-finalist in the 100 backstroke.
B1G CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Penn State has claimed three Big Ten women's swimming championships (2002, 2005, 2006) and 43 individual championships since first competing in 1992.
FREESTYLE
Junior Maddie Cooke and freshman Abbie Amdor lead the Lions in the sprint freestyles, currently ranking in the top eight of the conference with NCAA B-cut times in the 50 and 100 free, respectively. In the 50, Cooke ranks seventh with a season-best effort of 22.52 at the Princeton Invitational in December, while Amdor ranks sixth in the 100 free with a season-best effort of 49.16. Junior Elizabeth Gaspari is also a scoring threat in both races, currently ranking just outside the top 24 in both the 50 (23.16) and 100 (50.16).
Amdor is also a contender in the 200 free at No. 13 in the Big Ten with another NCAA B-Cut swim of 1:47.12 from the Princeton Invitational.
Sophomore Madison Murtagh leads the Lions in the distance events, currently ranking eighth in the Big Ten in the mile with an NCAA B-Cut time of 16:23.96.
BACKSTROKE
Maddie Hart is Penn State's top backstroker with NCAA B-cut times, ranking fourth in the 100 back (52.71) and fifth in the 200 back (1:54.90). Sophomore Marie Schobel is also among the conference leaders in both events, sitting 12th in the 100 back with a B-cut time of 53.65 and 19th in the 200 back (1:57.22). Junior Stephanie Szekely ranks 16th in the conference in the 200 back with a B-cut time of 1:56.89.
BREASTROKE
Cooke and fellow junior Carly Hart lead the Blue and White in the breaststroke, with their season-best 100 only times two-hundredths of a second apart, as Cooke is ranked 10th in the conference (1:01.02) time and Hart is 11th (1:01.04). Sophomore Olivia Jack trails by approximately four-tenths of a second, ranked at No. 18 (1:01.45). All three swimmers achieved B-Cut standard in the 100 at the mid-season meet in Princeton.
In the 200 breast, Carly Hart is the Nittany Lions' leader sitting 13th in the Big Ten (2:14.30).
BUTTERFLY
Maddie Hart dominates in the 100 fly with her No. 4 conference standing (52.33), and is also a threat in the 200 fly at No. 12 with a time of 1:58.43. Sophomore Brooke Matthias is the top Penn Stater in the 200 ranking 10th in the Big Ten after swimming the race in 1:58.06 at Princeton, giving her a top ten ranking in the race. Both swimmers' times have met the NCAA B-Cut standard.
INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Freshman Margaret Markvardt leads the team in the 200 IM with her season-best time of 2:01.18, and junior Stephanie Szekely has the team's top time in the 400 IM (4:18.65).
DIVING
Senior Christina Crowell is Penn State's top diver going into Big Tens with career-best scores in the 1-meter, 3-meter, and platform in the month of January and a Penn State record in the platform dive (235.25) that she achieved at the Buffalo Diving Invitational.
NEXT UP
The Penn State women will have a last chance meet at Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio on Mar. 1 before the NCAA Zone A Diving Championship from Mar. 9-11 and the NCAA Championships from March 18-21.
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.
