UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Swimming and Diving teams are set to travel to Columbus to compete in the annual Ohio State Invitational at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion. Competition is set to take place over four days from Nov. 18-21 against 12 teams from various conferences.
The invitational will be streamed here on B1G+.
The Nittany Lions will be competing against the following opponents: Ohio State, Cincinnati, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Purdue, UCLA, Yale, Pitt (diving only), Northwestern (diving only), Miami (diving only).
This is the team’s third road meet of the season, following showdowns against Pitt and Army at their home pools. The men enter the competition at 2-1 while the women are currently 1-2.
Both Penn State squads have seen massive improvements with head coach Hollie Bonewit-Cron at the helm. This is her second season leading the Blue and White.
Men
The men’s team is coming off a convincing win at West Point, boasting a 169-130 score. The effort was led by reigning Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Mariano Lazzerini, who earned the honor for the second time this season. Lazzerini posted four event wins, including two individual victories in the 100 breast (51.52) and 200 breast (1:53.54), and was a contributor in two relay wins in the 200 medley relay (23.39 split) and 400 free relay (43.39 split).
Other swimmers coming off strong performances against Army are senior Eduardo Cisternas and junior Tylor Kim. Both captured two individual victories against Army. Cisternas won the 1000 free, swimming a 9:08.48, and the 500 free, posting a 4:20.94. Kim claimed wins in the 50 free, posting a 20.09, and the 100 free, swimming a 43.31.
Lazzerini, Cisternas and Kim have been consistently dominant in their individual events and look to take that momentum into the invitational.
The 200 medley relay team of Matthew Bittner, Mariano Lazzerini, Cooper Morley and Tylor Kim has been performing strongly, winning both against St. Bonaventure (1:25.69) and Army (1:24.37), as well as consistently posting podium finishes.
Senior Hayden Elliott has been also a steady podium-finisher, including wins in the 3M dive against Yale (321.15) and sweeping wins in the 1M (320.85) and 3M (321.30) against St. Bonaventure. Freshman Alex Wodehouse is coming off his first career win in the 1M dive against Army, posting a 299.70 score.
Women
The women’s team is coming off a competitive loss against Army. Morgan Moore has had a successful senior campaign, posting podium finishes in all of her 1000 free swims, including victories vs. Army (9:50.71), St Bonaventure (10:04.07) and Pitt (9:51.67).
Senior Catherine Meisner has also been regularly showing up on the podium this season, highlighted by victories in the 100 free vs. Army (50.04) and St. Bonaventure (50.29). She has also been performing very strongly in the 200 free and the 200 IM. Sophomore Julia Barto has also been delivering impressive times in the IM events, with wins in the 200 IM against Army (2:01.96) and the 400 IM against Yale (4:18.85).
Sophomore Grace Brammer has been delivering stellar performances, taking sweeping wins in the 1M (262.95) and 3M (314.63) diving events against St Bonaventure, as well as sweeping the 1M (271.43) and 3M dive (271.43) against Yale. Kailey Koval has also been impressive, recently placing first in both diving events against Army, winning the 1M dive with a score of 285.23 and the 3M dive with a score of 314.55.
Events this week are set to take place in the following order:
Tuesday, Nov. 18:
200 Medley Relay
Team Diving Event
800 Free Relay
Wednesday, Nov. 19:
100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
200 Free Relay
1M Men’s Diving
3M Women’s Diving
Thursday, Nov. 20:
100 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
50 Free
400 Medley Relay
3M Men’s Diving
Platform Women’s Diving
Friday, Nov. 21:
200 IM
1650 Free
100 Free
200 Fly
200 Back
400 Free Relay
1M Women’s Diving
Platform Men’s Diving
For live updates on the swimming and diving team, fans can follow the official Instagram, (pennstateswimdive), X (pennstateswim) and Facebook (Penn State Swimming & Diving).