UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State swimming & diving will travel to Evanston, Illinois this weekend to compete in their second meet of the season. They'll face off against conference opponents Northwestern and Iowa at the Norris Aquatics Center Friday, January 22 and Saturday January 23 in a tri-dual meet format.
On Friday, the meet will begin in the evening and on Saturday it will begin in the morning. The exact times are TBA. There will be no live stream but you can follow along with the meet using the live stats link provided.
The Nittany Lion men come into this match as the only ranked team out of the three teams, ranked at 24 in the most recent CSCAA Top 25 poll. The women are ranked at 17, five spots ahead of Northwestern at 22.
The diving team will be competing in their fourth meet of the season after two virtual contests against Arizona and Nebraska and an in-person competition at Ohio State.
The Series
The Penn State women's team is 7-1 all-time against Iowa since they first met in 1991. They met the Wildcats for the first time in the same year, with their overall record against them being 2-4.
The Nittany Lion women last faced Northwestern in a dual meet in 2002 with a narrow three-point loss and Iowa in 2001 with a win, 177-111.
The Penn State men's team is 7-1 against Northwestern all-time since they first met in 1992. The men last met the Wildcats in 2011 where they came away victorious, topping Northwestern 176-158.
Against the Hawkeyes, the men are 4-2 overall since their first contest in 1993. The last time the men went head-to-head against Iowa was during the 2004-05 season in which the Nittany Lions defeated them 189-179.
Both the men and women faced Northwestern and Iowa in the 2020 Big Ten Championships. The Iowa women placed ninth, directly behind the Nittany Lions and Northwestern placed fourth.
The Swimmers
In addition to two intersquad meets, the Nittany Lions have also competed against Big Ten foe Ohio State. Although both the men and women were narrowly defeated by the Buckeyes, both teams put up an impressive fight during their debut meet.
The men's team was highlighted by eight individual event wins and two relay victories. From his performance at the meet, standout rookie Jake Houck was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. He ended the day with a win in the 100 fly (48.15), personal-best and NCAA B-cut time in the 50 free (19.92) for second place, and was a member of the winning 200 medley (1:27.68) and 400 free relay teams (2:58.51).
The women's team impressed last weekend, losing to the 2020 Big Ten Championship-winning Ohio State team by only 16 points. Several of the upperclassmen women who stood out last weekend like Maddie Cooke and Marie Schobel will not be competing this weekend, but many other women will be stepping up to plate.
Last week, the women got eight individual event wins, a relay win, and swept 1st-3rd in the 200 fly and 200 back. Included in those wins was Sadie Schumann's 200 free (1:50.23) performance and Carly Hart's 100 breast (1:01.53).
The Divers
The diving team will be competing in their second in-person meet of the season after participating in two virtual meets earlier this year.
Senior Bryce Hoch represented the Nittany Lions in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dive against Ohio State last weekend. He earned his personal-best score of 340.28 in the 3-meter to qualify for NCAA Zones in the event.
Junior Sierra Shurts posted solid scores with a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter (303.05) and sixth place in the 1-meter (268.15). Her 3-meter score was a personal best and both scores were enough to qualify Shurts for NCAA Zones last weekend.
The Opponents
This matchup marks the second official meet of the 2020-21 season for both the Northwestern men and women. The Wildcat men are currently 0-2 after falling to Indiana 59 - 241 and Michigan 70.5 - 229.5, as are the women, who lost to Indiana 117-177 and Michigan 112.5-188.5.
This will be the opening meet of the season for the Iowa men and women. The men placed sixth at the 2019-20 Big Ten Championship after concluding their season at 4-3 overall while the women placed ninth with a 6-4 record last season.
Next Up
The team will face Michigan State at home for their Senior Meet to conclude their regular season. The contest is slated for Friday, February 5 to Saturday, February 6 at McCoy Natatorium. Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM, on Instagram at @pennstateswimdive, and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
