Bittner, Villanueva & Markvardt Lead Penn State To Sweep of George Washington

PENN STATE VS GEORGE WASHINGTON

  • January 31, 2026
  • University Park, Pa.
  • SCY (25 yards)
  • Results

Courtesy: Penn State Athletics

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Swimming and Diving teams defeated George Washington on Jan. 31 at McCoy Natatorium. The men’s team won by a score of 176-122, and the women’s team won by a score of 173-104.

The regular season ended on a positive note for the Nittany Lions, as the Saturday morning matchup marked the last dual meet of the season. Penn State finished the weekend with sweeps against West Virginia on Friday and George Washington on Saturday.

Matthew BittnerVicente Villanueva, and Margaret Markvardt all tallied multiple wins, helping bring the Nittany Lions to victory.

Men:

Top swims:

The Nittany Lions swept the podium in the 50 free. Jake Kennedy swam an impressive 20.08, good for first. Following closely behind was Mariano Lazzerini, trailing by just one one-hundredth of a second (20.09), followed by Rylan Anselm (20.56).

Matthew Bittner took first place in the 100 back with a 46.22. Fellow Nittany Lion, Cooper Morley, followed closely behind, grabbing second place with a 46.67. Morley finished first in the 200 back, posting a 1:46.15.

Bittner tallied his second win of the day in the 100 fly, swimming a 46.49.

In the 100 breast, Vicente Villanueva added to the win column, finishing first with a 54.02, while Toni Slavica touched second in the event with a 54.87. Villanueva continued his day with a win in the 200 breast, swimming a 1:58.92.

Tylor Kim stood atop the podium in the 100 free, earning first with a 43.68.

Relays:

Bittner, Villanueva, Morley and Kim touched first in the 200 medley relay with a 1:25.56 swim, while Anselm, Lazzerini, Toni Slavica and Kim took first in the 400 free relay with a 2:55.60 swim.

Diving:

Hayden Elliott took home first in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, posting a 352.20 score in the 1-meter and a 322.58 score in the 3-meter. Alex Wodehouse followed with a second-place finish in the 3-meter dive, earning a score of 301.05.

Winners:

Women:

Top swims:

Catherine Meisner touched first in the 200 free, posting a 1:48, while Margaret Markvardt earned the win in the 100 back with a 53.82. Markvardt also grabbed a top finish in the 100 fly, posting a 53.69.

State College native Mackenzie Pagett grabbed a first-place finish of her own in the 100 breast, swimming a 1:04.60.

Julia Meisner’s 2:03.18 time in the 200 fly was good for first place, with Audrey Cohen following closely behind for second place with a 2:03.32. Meisner also grabbed first in the 400 IM, posting a 4:21.23. Cohen touched first in the 200 breast, swimming a 2:18.18.

Katie Ketter added to the win column, winning the 50 free with a 23.21. Cyrah Robinson followed, winning the 100 free with a 49.74.

Relays:

The women opened the competition, beginning with the 200-medley relay. Markvardt, Cohen, Robinson, and Ketter grabbed first with a 1:39.82.

The afternoon was capped with a win in the 400 free relay. The team of Markvardt, Catherine Meisner, Moore and Robinson posted a 3:22.55, good for first.

Diving:

Grace Brammer continued her dominance on the board, winning the 3-meter with a 310.73. Kailey Koval followed, grabbing second place on the 3-meter with a 285.68

Brammer also touched second in the 1-meter, scoring a 254.03.

Winners:

Courtesy: GW Sports

WASHINGTON – GW swimming & diving finished the regular season on Saturday with a dual meet at Penn State. The home Nittany Lions emerged with a pair of wins, outscoring the Revolutionaries, 176.00-122.00 (men’s) and 180.00-97.00 (women’s).

GW’s distance swimmers, Ava Topolewski and Daniel Choi, headlined the meet for the Buff & Blue, tying with a team-high 18 points, each with wins in the 1,000-yard free and 500-yard free. Choi had comfortable finishes in both events, winning the 500-yard free by over two seconds (4:29.02) and the 1,000-yard free by more than seven seconds (9:14.16). Topolewski won a tight race in the 1,000-yard free (9:53.01), finishing less than a second ahead of second place, later claiming the 500-yard free by just under two seconds (4:50.77).

Also performing well on the women’s side, Colleen MacWilliams cashed in with one win and two runner-up finishes. MacWilliams touched first in the 200-yard back (2:04.67), while finishing second in the 200-yard free (11:50.49) and the 400-yard IM (4:21.37). Olivia Paquette was GW’s top diver on Saturday, winning the 1-meter dive (257.85) and finishing third in the 3-meter dive (280.80).

Of note on the men’s side, Matija Radjenovic won the 200-yard free (1:37.70) and finished in third place in the 200-yard breast (2:03.21). The men’s team also had a pair of first-year swimmers shine in Andres Brooks and Heitor Napolitano Fonseca Reis. Brooks finished first in the 400-yard IM (1:53.08) with third and fifth place results in the 200-yard free (1:39.96) and the 200-yard fly (1:53.08), respectively. Napolitano Fonseca Reis claimed victory in the 200-yard fly (1:48.11) and a third-place result in the 500-yard free (4:31.33).

The Revolutionaries will now prepare for the conference championship meet. The 2026 Atlantic 10 Championships will be held at the Hampton Aquaplex in Hampton, Va., from Feb. 18-21, where GW will attempt to win its sixth-straight men’s conference championship and its fifth-straight women’s conference championship.

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