Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Army-West Point Black Knights
- January 31, 2025
- McCoy Natatorium, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Full Meet Results (PDF)
- Team Scores
- Men: Penn State 171.5 def. #24 Army 128.5
- Women: Penn State 171.5 def. Army 127.5
The Penn State Nittany Lions kicked off their final weekend of competition with a co-ed dual meet against the Army-West Point Black Knights on Friday evening.
Both the Penn State men’s and women’s teams earned their first dual meet wins of 2025 against Division I opponents after previously falling to Northwestern, Princeton, and Virginia Tech in spring competition.
Men’s Recap
The Penn State men won 11 out 16 events on the day, including wins in both relays. They opened the session with a narrow three-tenths win of 1:25.30 in the 200 medley relay; and finished the day with a dominant 1:19.67 in the 200 free relay, 2.8 seconds ahead of Army.
The Nittany Lions also led the way in the distance freestyle events, most of which were great battles. Junior Eduardo Cisternas, a Chilean Olympian, won the 200 free in 1:35.93 and the 500 free in 4:23.53. In the 200, he used a 24.35 final 50 split to run down Army – West Point’s Thomas Hadji (1:36.08) and knock a second-and-a-half off his lifetime best.
The 500 was a less-competitive race for Cisternas: he won by five-and-a-half seconds, which was a season best.
Rylan Anselm won the 1000 free in another nailbiter, touching in 9:09.21, six-tenths better than Army’s Brice Barrieault (9:09.87). That was a personal best by Anselm by almost three seconds. The four best times of his career have all been done this season.
Army’s Johnny Crush, continued his electric freshman season for Army-West Point, winning two more events. He won the 100 back in 46.12 and the 200 back in 1:44.02. He remains undefeated in the 100 backstroke at all meets during this college season.
He lost his third individual event of the day, though, to his teammate Alex Edwards in the 200 IM. Edwards won in 1:47.65, while Crush finished 2nd in 1:49.32. Another Black Knight swimmer, Kalvin Hahn, placed 3rd in 1:49.51, scoring maximum points in the event.
Among the top great battles in the meet was the 100 breaststroke, where a pair of defending conference champions battled: Army junior Kohen Rankin out-touched Penn State junior Mariano Lazzerini 52.89 to 52.98. Kohen won the Patriot League title in this event last season and became Army’s first NCAA Championship qualifier since 1987, while Lazzerini won the Big Ten title last season.
On Friday, Lazzerini won the 200 breaststroke in 1:55.42 – a more comfortable win over Hahn’s 1:57.15.
Other Highlights:
- Alex Karahalis from Penn State won the 200 fly in 1:44.85 – another crucial last-50 battle. That’s within three tenths of his lifetime best from the mid-season Ohio State Invitational and is 1.3 seconds better than he was in his freshman season last year. Karahalis has been among the biggest beneficiaries of the new coaching staff for Penn State this season.
- Army’s Owen Harlow won the 50 free in 20.22.
- Penn State’s Hayden Elliott swept the diving events.
Women’s Recap
The Penn State women almost matched their teammates, winning 10 out of 16 events in the meet. That included a huge effort from junior Catherine Meisner, who went three-for-three in individual events in the meet.
She won the 100 free (49.85), the 200 free in a season best (1:46.10), and the 200 IM in a lifetime best of 2:00.83. The 200 IM is not a race she swam a ton of to this point in her college career, but she has raced it in all three of the team’s spring semester dual meets this year.
The two sides split the relays; Penn State won the opening 200 medley in 1:39.98 almost two seconds ahead of Army’s “A”. While Angie McKane of Army got the early lead with a 25.42 backstroke split, Penn State dominated every other leg.
The winning time for the Nittany Lions was only .17 seconds shy of their season-best time from the Ohio State Invite. That was due in part to good splits from freshman Audrey Cohen (28.08 – breaststroke) and anchor Maura Fluehr (22.70 – freestyle); and in part due to a crucial lineup change: Margaret Markvardt shifted from backstroke to butterfly and split 23.11; Maura Fluehr moved from fly to free, replacing Meisner; and Ellie Brandbergh jumped onto the backstroke leg.
In the closing 200 free relay, Army-WP won in 1:32.40 ahead of Penn State’s 1:32.59 – likewise very-nearly hitting a season best. The team of McKane (23.54), Clara Williams (23.12), Meghan Cole (23.03), and Molly Weber (22.71) were just .35 seconds shy of the time the team swam a week ago against Loyola.
Markvardt not only had a good medley relay split, the 5th year also flexed her versatility by winning the 100 breaststroke in a new lifetime best of 1:01.38 and the 100 fly in 52.64.
She finished her day with a 22.17-second split on Penn State’s runner-up 200 free relay.
Molly Webber hit two season-bests for Army-WP. She was 2nd in the 100 free in 50.11, 2nd in the 200 free in a season best of 1:47.25, and won the 500 free in 4:50.19.
Other Highlights:
- Penn State swept the diving events, though from two different divers. Grace Brammer won on 1-meter while Abigail Ekstrom won 3-meter; on 3-meter, Ekstrom led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish for the Nittany Lions that helped cement the team’s win.
