ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced the 2020-21 men's and women's swimming and diving schedule on Friday evening. The schedule consists of three meets for Penn State beginning on January 15-16.
The Nittany Lions will debut at Ohio State the weekend of January 15-16 in a tri-meet against the host Buckeyes and Rutgers. The following weekend, PSU will travel to Northwestern for its final tri-meet of the schedule against Iowa and the host Wildcats.
Penn State will then close out the regular season at home against Michigan State the weekend of February 5-6.
Meet times along with information regarding the 2021 Big Ten Championship will be announced at a later date.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a successful 2019-20 season that saw six new school records, three individual and three relay, and 15 team members with Olympic Trials cuts. Both the men's and women's teams placed eighth in the 2020 Big Ten Championships.
Women's swimming junior Marie Schobel and class of 2020's Maddie Hart were slated to travel with five men's swimming team members to NCAA Championships in March until they were canceled due to COVID-19. Hart was set to compete in the 100 backstroke, 200 back, and 100 butterfly, while Schobel would have competed in the 100 back.
Hart broke the school record in the 200 (1:53.37) back at 2020 Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. That earned her a fourth place finish in the race, along with third place in the 100 fly and sixth place in the 100 back. Hart's 100 fly time earned her the second-fastest all-time swim in Penn State history at 51.64.
Schobel narrowly missed the 100 back and 200 back finals at Big Tens, but recently swam for her 100 back OT cut in November. She currently sits at fourth-all time for Penn State in the 100 back and third in the 200.
Schobel and Hart were also members of the 200 medley (1:37.09) and 400 medley (3.33.26) relay teams that broke the school record at Big Tens, joining seniors Carly Hart and Maddie Cooke in the 200, and Carly Hart and sophomore Abbie Amdor in the 400.
Cooke swam 22.45 in the 50 freestyle at Big Tens to earn herself eighth place and the fifth-fastest time in Penn State history.
The men's season was highlighted by junior Michael Daly and senior Gabe Castano who both qualified for the NCAA Championships for their second consecutive year. Daly for the 200 back and 400 IM and Castano for the 50 free. They also earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors at the Big Ten Championships.
In addition, the 200 free relay team consisting of Will Roberson, Austin Wilson, Juliusz Gosieniecki, and Castano were also slated to compete after breaking their own school record in the event (1:17.04) to qualify.
Daly found success at the 2020 Big Ten Championship after he broke the school record in the 200 free (1:34.73) with his lead-off split time in the 800 free relay. His time of 1:40.63 in the 200 back won him silver and ranks him as the third-fastest in the event in school history. Daly also swam 4:17.36 in the 500 free to finish fifth, making him the fastest Nittany Lion to compete in the event at Big Tens.
Castano held the nation's fifth-fastest time in the 50 free after swimming a career-best in the event at Big Tens. His time of 19.06 secured him a silver medal and ranks him second-fastest all-time in program history.
Sophomore Daniel Raisanen also broke his own school record at Big Tens in the 200 breast with a time of 1:55.73. He originally broke the record in his prelim race (1:56.26).
Swimming & diving competed in inter-squad meets in the fall 2020 semester and results can be found on Meet Mobile.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @PennStateSWIM and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.