UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women's swimming and diving lost to Virginia, 140-155 Saturday at McCoy Natatorium on Senior Day presented by Penn State Alumni Association.
After celebrating their 10 senior student-athletes, the Nittany Lions took to the pool and the boards, performing well and setting multiple personal and team season-best times.
"Virginia Tech's men are in the top-15 in the country, the women are in the top-25. We knew this was going to be a challenging meet for us. There was a lot of good racing," Penn State head coach Tim Murphy said. "Probably most importantly, we went after first, we didn't back down. We were aggressive. We had some really good swims. We had a lot of really tough swim. So i think we got better, I think we got tougher."
Top Swims:
Penn State's breaststroke squad highlighted the meet, sweeping the 100 with graduate student Olivia Jack first (1:01.59) and juniors Abby Henderson (1:03.55) and Kylie Rydland (1:03.83) second and third. Rydland later won the 200 Breast in 2:15.98 for a personal and team season-best.
Two Nittany Lions followed junior Abby Henderson to second (Morgan Rinn – 4:21.10) and third (Shannon Meadway – 4:21.85), sweeping the event as she placed first in the 400 IM. Henderson's 4:18 was a season and team best.
Junior Mary Brinker out touched her competition by 0.01 seconds for victory in the 50 Free (22.88) with senior Ellie Tiskus in third (22.94).
Freshman Morgan Moore and Catherine Meisner led the Nittany Lions in distance freestyle events. Meisner took second in the 200 (1:46.17) and third in the 500 (4:51.16). And in the 1000 Free, Moore finished third with a new personal and team season-best of six seconds (10:13.29).
Emma Harvey touched in 53.08 in the 100 Back for second place and an NCAA B-Cut. She swam to second in the 100 fly (53.56), as her teammates sophomore Maura Fluehr and graduate student Brooke Matthias placed fourth (54.60) and fifth (54.61).
Juniors Rinn and Cat Stanford both earned season personal and team bests in the 200 Fly (1:59.48) and 100 Free (49.47) to place second and third.
Top Dives:
Daphne Wils swept the day's diving events, winning the women's 3-Meter (337.73) and 1-Meter (311.55).
Relays:
Penn State vs. Virginia Tech began with a standing-ovation finish in the 400 Medley Relay as evenly matched teams dueled in the pool at the beginning and end of the meet. Molly Carson, Jack, Harvey and Brinker touched second, by only 0.19 seconds in the 400 (3:36.65) while Harvey, Tiskus, Jack and Brinker earned first in the 200 Free (1:29.86).
Event Winners:
100 Breast –Jack
50 Free – Brinker (22.88)
200 Breast – Rydland (2:15.98)
400 IM – Abby Henderson (4:18.86)
1-Meter – Wils (311.55)
3-Meter – Wils (337.73)
Up Next:
Penn State returns to McCoy for its third consecutive home meet Friday, January 27 at 4 p.m. against Villanova.
Keep up with the team on Instagram (@PennStateSwimDive), Twitter (@PennStateSWIM) and Facebook (Penn State Swimming & Diving).
