Virginia Tech Men and Women Take Down Penn State

VIRGINIA TECH VS. PENN STATE

• Results
• Hosted by Virginia Tech
• Saturday, October 15th
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format

FINAL TEAM SCORES:

• Men- Virginia Tech 175, Penn State 117

• Women- Virginia Tech 174, Penn State 121

The Virginia Tech Hokies touched first in a combined 27 out of 32 events over the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday in Christiansburg, Virginia..  The men’s side featured a trio of doubles by experienced seniors.  Penn State senior Shane Ryan picked up where he left off before redshirting a year and representing Ireland in the 2016 Olympics.  He won the 100 back in 47.01, and the 100 free in 44.03, both NCAA ‘B’ times.  Ryan’s two wins were the only ones for the Penn State men.

Virginia Tech senior Brandon Fiala, who was a NCAA finalist in the 100 breast last year, swept the breaststroke events, taking the 100 breast in 55.20 and the 200 breast in 2:01.71.  Fellow senior Robert Owen, a OT finalist in the 200 back, won that event today in 1:48.48.  He also touched first in the 200 IM (1:51.73), although the Hokies were swimming all their events as exhibition by that point.

On the women’s side, the Hokies were led by senior Jessica Hespeler.  She won the first event of the meet, the 1000 free (10:01.05), and went on to win to the 200 (1:49.35) and 500 (4:45.46) freestyles as well.  Seniors Fiona Donnelly and Klaudia Nazieblo and junior Kelly Henry each won two events also.

The Penn State women only took two individual events, the sprint freestyles, with wins in the 50 free by senior Katie Saloky (23.06) and in the 100 free by freshman Heather Macdougall (51.51).  The Nittany Lion women did end the meet on a bit of high note, topping the Hokies in the 400 free relay.

PRESS RELEASE – VIRGINIA TECH:

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. — The Virginia Tech swimming and diving teams defeated Penn State on Saturday at Christiansburg Aquatic Center to kick off the 2016-17 home slate. The men topped the Nittany Lions, 175-117, while the women H₂Okies won, 174-121.

“Great day for the H₂Okies. Our senior leadership is outstanding and it shows throughout our team,” said head swimming and diving coach Ned Skinner. “We competed hard and the energy on the pool deck was outstanding. Swimmers like Kelly Henry and Nathan Pawlowicz are emerging as superstars and so many newcomers are contributing. We hope to build on this meet as we head into a two day quad meet next weekend.”

Henry took first in the 100 and 200 breast and was also swam the second leg a 200 medley relay unit that placed first with a 1:42.94. Pawlowicz earned nine points in convincing fashion in the 1000 free where he turned in a 9:29.87, over 20 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

The Hokies got the day started with victories in both the men and women 200 medley relays. Senior Jess Hespeler continued her hot start to the season with wins in the 200, 500 free and 1000 free.

Posting NCAA B-cut times in the women’s 100 back were senior Fiona Donnely and junior Klaudia Nazieblo. Nazieblo took first in the event with a 54.55 while Donnelly finished second with a 54.84.

Tech also took the top two spots in the 100 breast with senior Brandon Fiala taking first with a B-cut time of 55.20 and junior Justin Edwards placing second with a 55.73. Junior Norbert Szabo earned 27 points with first place finishes in the 200 free, and 100 and 200 fly. His 1:39.06 in the 200 free was nearly one second off of his personal best. Senior Robert Owen took first with a 1:48.48 in the 200 back while sophomore Ian Ho continues to excel in the sprint events as her registered the top time in the 50 free with a 20.40.

The H₂Okie divers swept the one meter events with sophomore Ashlynn Peters posting a first place score of 315.45 and sophomore Ben Schiesl registering a 333.67. Peters later went on to also take the three meter event where junior Ashley Buchter, making her first appearance after sitting out last season with an injury, placed second with a 268.88.

Rounding out the women’s one meter was senior Leah Piemonte with a 243.40 and freshman Miranda Eberle, who earned three points for Tech with a score of 238.50.

Many newcomers impressed in their first action of the campaign including Colin Murphy who finished second in the 1000 free with a 9:40.98 and Hassler Carroll who picked up two points with a 1:53.42 in the 200 fly.

Tech returns to action on Friday, Oct. 21, at 5 p.m. for a meet with Duke, West Virginia and William and Mary at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center. The second day of action takes place on Oct. 22 at 11 a.m.

PRESS RELEASE – PENN STATE:

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – Great swims from Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) and Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.) were not enough for Penn State against Virginia Tech, as the Nittany Lion men and women were both defeated by the Hokies, 175-117 and 174-121, respectively, in a dual meet Saturday at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.

“It’s early,” said head coach Tim Murphy. “I would have liked to seen a little bit more progress, but Katie Saloky and Shane had some strong swims. Other than that, we got out-hustled a little bit and have a lot of work to do.”

Ryan swam the 100-yard backstroke in an NCAA event for the first time since taking bronze at the NCAA Championships in 2015, and swam an NCAA B-cut time of [47.01]* seconds to win the event. Ryan also surpassed the provisional standard in the 100 freestyle, winning the event in 44.03 seconds. Additionally, Ryan led the 200 medley relay (1:30.50) and 400 free relay (3:02.21) teams to second place finishes.

On the women’s side, Saloky narrowly missed the NCAA B standard in the 50 freestyle, touching first in 23.06 seconds. Saloky was also the runner-up in the 100 butterfly, touching one-tenth of a second shy of first in 54.87, and she led the 400 freestyle relay team to victory in 3:25.12.

“Katie is doing a better job of racing and stroke, and for Shane I think it was an opportunity to get settled back in and start racing at the level he is capable of,” said Murphy. “Those were productive swims.”

Heather MacDougal (La Crescenta, Calif.) and Tommie Dillione (Newtown, Pa.) also contributed to the winning 400 free effort and finished first (51.51) and second (51.69), respectively in 100 freestyle individually. Dillione also led Penn State and finished second overall in the 200 free in 1:51.18.

The Nittany Lion women were unable to claim gold in the distance events, but placed second and third in both. Casey Francis(East Meadow, N.Y.) swam in both the 500 (4:57.82) and 1000 (10:04.43) and took third in both. Ally McHugh (Philadelphia, Pa.) out-touched Francis in the 1000 in 10:04.23, and Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) (4:57.22) was the runner-up in the 500. Sowinski was also the runner-up in the 200 butterfly (2:01.47).

Additionally, Emily Harris (Downington, Pa.) reached the podium twice, placing runner-up in the 200 breast (2:19.19) and third in the 100 breast (1:05.39).

Notable performances on the men’s side included JP Cervone (Sao Paulo, Brazil), who placed second in the 200 free (1:40.30) and third in the 500 freestyle (4:36.03), and freshman Kaelan Freund (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) who placed third in the 100 breaststroke (56.28) and fourth in the 200 breast (2:05.69).

“This meet pointed out our weaknesses, and we just need to stay focused and keep working hard, which I feel that we’re doing.”

Penn State will return to Virginia for a tri-meet against Virginia and Michigan Nov. 4-5.

*Note: corrected from original.