ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Penn State men's swimming & diving competes at the 2023 B1G Championships hosted by the University of Michigan Wednesday through Saturday at Canham Natatorium.
Coverage:
The four-day meet begins Wednesday at 5 p.m. with relay finals and continues Thursday through Saturday with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m. A championship stream can be accessed via B1G+, live stats are also available.
The Meet:
The Nittany Lions face some of the best squads in the country. In February, the CSCAA listed five conference teams in its top-25 rankings. Indiana leads the B1G at No. 6, followed by No. 8 Ohio State, No. 17 Michigan, No. 23 Wisconsin and No. 25 Minnesota.
The Nittany Lions:
Penn State travels to Ann Arbor with several top-10 record holders.
Sophomore Victor Bagana leads the Nittany Lions in the 100 Fly as the school record-holder (45.18) and the 50 (19.18) and 100 (42.49) Free as the fourth and second fastest swimmer in program history.
Junior Jake Houck joins the sophomore on the top-times list and ranks fifth in both the 100 Fly (47.23) and 50 Free (19.29).
Shattering Penn State's 1000 Free record by nearly eight seconds earlier this year (8:56.63), standout freshman Eduardo Cisternas also sits third fastest in two other distance free events, the 500 (4:18.50) and the 1650 (15:07.14).
Captain Lachlan Bryne's 46.97 100 and 1:44.16 200 Backs earn him seventh and fifth spots on the top-10 timesheets. Freshman Cooper Morely accompanies the senior in nineth in the former (47.28).
As the top-two swimmers in program history, senior Daniel Raisanen and freshman Mariano Lazzerini highlight the Nittany Lions' breaststroke squad. Raisanen holds both records in the 100 (51.96) and 200 (1:53.79) with Lazzerini in second with times of 52.73 an 1:54.38.
Sophomore Samuel Folger's performance in the 200 Fly (1:46.50) earlier this year rockets him to seventh.
In second and seventh, graduate student William Lulek leads the Nittany Lions in both the 400 (3:45.71) and 200 (1:46.51) IMs.
The 2022-23 Season:
The Nittany Lions faced eight teams and swam in the NC State Invitational this season.
The men earned victories against Boston College (212-86), West Virginia (200.5-96.5), Army (168-101) and Villanova (179.5-111.5) and fell to Navy (148-150), Pitt (171-180), Notre Dame (125-226) and Virginia Tech (121-172).
At NC State's mid-season event, Penn State took fourth overall with 918 points.
B1G Championship History:
Penn State claimed one B1G men's swimming championship (1999) and 21 individual and relay titles since first competing in 1992.
The Nittany Lions finished last year's meet with 626 points, 38 top-24 finishes and five new school records.
In third, Baganha became a conference medalist in the 50 Free (19.18). The then-freshman also competed in the championship A Finals of the 100 Fly, touching in a school record (45.19) for fifth, and the 100 Free, sprinting to eighth (42.73).
Raisanen broke both breaststroke school records, swimming to fourth in the 200 (1:54.03) and fifth in the 100 (52.12).
Both the 200 and 400 Medley relays broke school records, placing fifth (1:24.57) and sixth (3:06.36).
Schedule:
Wednesday, Feb. 23 – RELAYS: 5 p.m.
200 Medley
800 Free
Thursday, Feb. 24 – PRELIMS: 10 a.m.
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
1-Meter
Thursday, Feb. 24 – FINALS: 5 p.m.
1-Meter
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
400 Medley Relay
Friday, Feb. 25 – PRELIMS: 10 a.m.
100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
3-Meter
Friday, Feb. 25 – FINALS: 5 p.m.
3-Meter
100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
200 Free Relay
Saturday, Feb. 26 – PRELIMS: 10 a.m.
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform
1650 Free
Saturday, Feb. 26 – FINALS: 5 p.m.
Platform Dive
1650 Free
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
400 Free Relay
Keep up with Penn State swimming and diving by following the team on Instagram (@PennStateSwimDive), Twitter (@PennStateSWIM) and Facebook (Penn State Swimming & Diving).
