MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Penn State women's swimming concluded the third day of Big Ten Championships on Wednesday evening in the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.
The Nittany Lions achieved one top-16 finish and four more top-24 finishes along with four career bests on the day.
Penn State finished day three at ninth place with 189 points.
Top Swims
In the 100 butterfly B-finals, senior Maddie Cooke swam for 15th place with a time of 54.04. Her prelim time of 53.89 was a career best and the 10th-fastest time in Penn State history in the event.
Junior Madison Ledwith swam for 17th (53.94) and first in the 100 fly C-finals with the fastest finals time for Penn State.
Senior Stephanie Szekely placed 18th (4:15.63) and second in the C-finals after being seeded 24th (4:20.20) overall in prelims. Her finals time was a career best.
Joining Ledwith in the C-finals was sophmore Margaret Marvardt and junior Marie Schobel. Markvardt swam for 18th (53.99) and a career best, while Schobel placed 20th (54.40). Schobel's prelim time of 54.14 was a career best.
On the first day of individual races, Cooke swam for 11th place and third in the B-finals with a career best time of 22.39 in the 50 freestyle. That time also bumped her up to fourth-fastest all-time in the 50 free for Penn State and earned her another NCAA B-Cut time.
Also on day two, Markvardt placed 14th in the 200 IM B-finals with a time of 2:00.54. Her prelims time of 1:59.39 was a career best and an NCAA B-Cut.
Nittany Lion Relays
Penn State began day one with a fourth-place swim in the 200 medley (1:38.14) with a team of Schobel, Carly Hart, Markvardt, and Cooke.
Next Up
The women's team will continue Big Ten competition on Friday with prelims beginning at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. ET and finals starting at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT. The Big Ten Diving Championships continue Friday at 1:20 p.m. ET/ 12:20 p.m. CT at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
All sessions will be streamed live via BTN Plus with swimming live stats available on Sidearm and Meet Mobile.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Instagram at @pennstateswimdive, Twitter at @PennStateSWIM and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
