GREENSBORO, N.C. – Penn State men's swimming and diving competed at the N.C. State Invitational Saturday at the Greensboro Aquatic Center against Duke, Stanford, Army, George Washington, UNC Asheville and the nationally ranked Arizona State and NC State. The Nittany Lions' breaststroke squad, Victor Baganha's pair of appearances in championship finals, Hayden Elliott's diving victory and additions to the program record book highlighted a weekend of competition.
At the conclusion of the meet, Penn State men scored 918 points and placed fourth overall.
"The team took a big step forward this weekend," said Penn State head coach Tim Murphy. "Now it's time to know how to be better."
Top Swims:
On the final day of the invite, the Nittany Lions sent 13 athletes to finals.
Freshman Mariano Lazzerini (1:54.38) won the 200 breast, with senior Daniel Raisanen (1:54.66) earning third. Both men garnered NCAA B-Cut times.
In the 1650 Free, Eduardo Cisternas took fifth place with an NCAA B-Cut time of 15:16.25. The freshman later scored more points for the Nittany Lions, touching 13th in the 200 Fly (1:49.00).
Senior captain Lachlan Byrne cut nearly four seconds from his season best time for ninth in the 200 Back (1:44.93).
Baganha added another NCAA B-Cut to his season as he finished fifth in the 100 Free (42.71).
Relays:
To conclude the weekend's competition, the team of Baganha, Hurley, Lazzerini and Byrne swam to sixth in the 400 Free relay (2:55.62).
Dives:
Freshman Elliott scored 208.05 points, placing him fifth in the tower dive.
Weekend Highlights:
The Nittany Lions' breaststroke squad shone. In the 100 Breast, Lazzerini podiumed and Raisanen placed fourth (53.10) with NCAA B-Cut times. Both Lazzerini's 100 and 200 times, 52.76 and 1:54.38, earn him spots as the second-quickest breaststroker in program history.
Baganha's paired his fifth-place finish in the 100 Free with fourth and an NCAA B-Cut in in the 50 (19.38).
On the boards, Elliott won the 1-Meter dives with 333.35 points.
Event Finalists:
Saturday, November 19:
200 Back – Lachlan Byrne, Jack Harvey, Matthew Bittner, Jacob Oberle
100 Free – Baganha
200 Breast – Raisanen, Lazzerini, William Lulek, Calvin Wise
200 Fly – Sam Folger, Eduardo Cisternas, Erik Bolang, Jack Deppen
Friday, November 18:
400 IM –Lulek, Andrew Chistensen, Deppen, Wise
100 Fly –Bittner, Jacob Oberle, Folger, Bolang
200 Free – Cisternas, Zach Brewer, Justin Schneider, Ben Musante, Ryan McNutt
100 Breast – Raisanen, Lazzerini, Tommy Hurley, Ben Doyle
100 Back –Byrne, Bittner, Harvey, Oberle
3-Meter – Elliott
Thursday, November 17:
500 Free – Cisternas
200 IM –Lulek
50 Free – Baganha, Lazzerini, Doyle, Hurley, Zane Sutton, Raisanen, Byrne
1 Meter – Elliott
Up Next:
Final exams and winter break training are next for the Nittany Lions. This coming semester, the Nittany Lions will open the new year at home against Army on Friday, January 13.
Keep up with Penn State swimming and diving by following the team on Instagram (@PennStateSwimDive), Twitter (@PennStateSWIM) and Facebook (Penn State Swimming & Diving).
