Courtesy: Penn State Athletics
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State swimming & diving will continue its season this weekend at two away meets. The men’s swimming team will travel to Bloomsburg for a dual meet moved a day earlier to Friday evening due to potential inclement weather, while men’s and women’s diving will travel to Annapolis to compete in the Navy Diving Invitational from Friday through Sunday.
Men’s swimming will begin its’ meet against Bloomsburg at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The men’s team has not competed since the Princeton Invitational in early December when Michael Daly won two events and earned three NCAA B-Cut times along with Daniel Raisanen, Hayden Harlow, William Roberson, and William Lulek.
The Penn State divers will contest Navy at their third meet in three weeks, beginning at noon on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The divers are coming off an impressive performance at the Buffalo Invitational meet with three individual wins and a Penn State record in the women’s platform from Christina Crowell.
The Penn State women’s swimmers are not competing this weekend after hosting and defeating Buffalo last weekend.
The Nittany Lions
This will be the first meet since early December for the men’s swim team who competed in the Big Al Invitational at Princeton. Daly led the men’s team with two wins and three NCAA B-Cut times in the 500 freestyle (4:20.10), 200 backstroke (1:43.57) and 400 IM (3:48.76). Along with Daly, four teammates also earned NCAA B-Cut times including; Raisanen who placed second with a career-best in the 200 breaststroke (1:58.21), Harlow who finished third with a season-best in the 400 IM (3:49.05), Roberson who secured third with a career-best in the 50 free (19.42), and Lulek who placed fourth with a season-best time in the 400 IM (3:49.98).
So far this season, the men’s team has a record of 2-2 and have 12 men ranking in the NCAA Top 100 in their designated races. The Big Ten rankings feature three Nittany Lions in the Top 10 for the 100 IM including Harlow at second, Alec Peckmann at third, and Raisanen at 10. Other notable rankings include Roberson ranked second in the 50 free, sixth in the 50 back, and tenth in the 100 free. Daly is ranked ninth in 500 free, seventh in the 200 back and 400 IM, and eighth in the 1000 free. Brad Johnson is ranked ninth in the 50 breast, and Juliusz Gosieniecki is ranked tenth in the 50 fly.
The men’s diving team came off a successful run at the Buffalo Invitational last week where Jonah Cey and Kevin Sullivan clinched top-two scores. Cey earned first in the platform dive (275.80) and placed second in the 3-meter dive (324.10), while teammate Sullivan won the 3-meter dive with a personal-best score of 334.60 and finished second in the platform dive (213.00).
Women’s diving is coming off a strong performance against Buffalo last weekend and against Michigan the weekend before. Christina Crowell broke the Penn State women’s diving platform record with a score of 207.60, and then broke it again at the Buffalo Invitational with a score of 232.25.
Sierra Shurts also contributed to the women’s team success when she earned third place at Buffalo in the platform with a score of 216.80.
The Huskies
Bloomsburg men’s swimming is 5-2 this season, and most recently placed fourth at the Zippy Invitational at Akron in early December. The Nittany Lions lead the series against Bloomsburg 8-0.
Next Up
Penn State swimming & diving will host Villanova on Friday, January 31 at 4 p.m. for Senior Day and the last regular season meet of the season.
Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM, on Instagram at @pennstateswimdive, and on Facebook at facebook.com/
“The Nittany Lions lead the series against Bloomsburg 8-0.”
DUH!!!
This meet is a waste of PA tax dollars. PSU sees this as a way to work themselves to the upper echelons of the BIG TEN? Seriously…..there are so many reasons why this is……Sad!!!