Virginia Tech Sweeps Penn State and Princeton; Both Tigers Teams Beat Nittany Lions

Penn State vs. Princeton and Virginia Tech

• Saturday, January 18th, 2025
• McCoy Natatorium, University Park, PA
• Full Results
• Scores
  • Women
    • Virginia Tech 191, Princeton 109
    • Virginia Tech 216, Penn State 84
    • Princeton 176.5, Penn State 121.5
  • Men
    • Virginia Tech 173, Princeton 127
    • Virginia Tech 193, Penn State 107
    • Princeton 178, Penn State 122

The Virginia Tech Hokies and Princeton Tigers traveled to Pennsylvania over the weekend to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in their home pool. The visiting teams all headed home with dual meet victories, as the Hokies swept both opponents and the Tigers toppled the Nittany Lions.

Men’s Recap

The #10 Virginia Tech Hokies are rounding into form, and after easily handling the Virginia Cavaliers last weekend, the VT men beat Princeton 173-127 and Penn State 193-107.

The Hokies’ squad featured their core performers, and the quartet of Youssef Ramadan (21.20), Carles Coll Marti (23.54), Mario Molla Yannes (20.33), and Brendan Whitfield (18.90) not only won the 200 medley in 1:23.97 to open the meet, but also would account all except one of the Hokies’ individual victories.

Coll Marti led the way with three wins. He swept the breaststrokes, taking the 100 breast in 51.55 to win by over two seconds, and winning the 200 breast by over five seconds with a 1:52.09. Coll Marti ranks 3rd in Division I in the 100 breast this season with a 50.78 from last weekend, and he ranks 1st in the 200 with a 1:50.09 from midseason. He ended the night with a 1:43.39 victory in the 200 IM.

Ramadan collected two wins with a pair of season-best times. First, he won the 50 free in 19.16, then he won his signature event, the 100 fly with a swift time of 44.68. That moves Ramadan, the 2023 NCAA champion in the event, to roughly 6th in the nation this season.

Whitfield completed the Hokie sweep of the shortest two freestyle events with a 42.35 win in the 100 free, while Molla Yannes continued his newfound backstroke success with a 1:42.21 victory in the 200 back.

Luis Dominguez won the 500 free in 4:23.10. He was the only Hokie individual champ not to have been on the winning medley relay. But, he anchored Virginia Tech’s winning 400 free relay (2:50.82) in 43.26, joining with Ramdan (42.09), Whitfield (42.83), and Molla Yannes (42.64).

Princeton experienced their first dual meet loss of the season, but they went down swinging, as the Tigers actually won the first three individual events of the day.

In the 1000 free, Princeton went 1-2 as Santiago Gutierrez got his hand on the wall just before Connor Buck, 9:05.62 to 9:05.89, to kick off the individual competition.

Next, Mitchell Schott outdueled Dominguez to win the 200 free, 1:33.31 to 1:34.05. Schott’s been on a tear all season. After setting school records in the 100 and 200 freestyles during the fall semester, he set the program records in the 500 free and 1000 free last weekend against Kenyon and Navy.

In another tight race in the 100 back, Tyler Hong touched just ahead of Penn State’s Cooper Morley, 46.88 to 46.90, while Molla Yannes took 3rd in 47.07.

Not long after his 200 free win, Schott secured another victory with a 1:44.13 in the 200 fly.

The Tiger men wouldn’t win any more swimming events, but diver Aidan Wang, the reigning Ivy League Championships Diver of the Meet, swept the diving events, garnering scores of 358.50 in the 1m and 359.70 in the 3m.

The Nittany Lion men couldn’t come away with any wins in their home pool, but they earned 2nd-place finishes in seven different events. Mariano Lazzerini led the way in the pool, taking 2nd in the 100 breast (53.81) and the 200 breast (1:57.83). Hayden Elliott, meanwhile, finished 2nd in both diving events, earning scores of 333.00 (1m) and 313.45 (3m).

Women’s Recap

There were quite a few close races, but the #25 Hokie women emerged victorious, beating Princeton 191-109 and Penn State 216-84, while Princeton defeated Penn State 176.5-121.5.

The first race of the night was a barnburner, with Virginia Tech touching out Princeton 1:38.86 to 1:38.98 in the 200 medley relay.

Carmen Weiler Sastre (24.66) and Emily Santos (28.26) put Virginia Tech in the lead early on, but Princeton and Penn State were just behind, with Penn State helped by Margaret Markvardt‘s 27.55 breast split, the fastest in the field. Princeton’s Sabrina Johnston helped narrow Virginia Tech’s lead with a 23.78 fly split, but, ultimately Emily Claesson (22.00) held off Princeton’s Ela Noble (21.96) for the win.

It was a team effort for the Hokies, as eight different women won individual event titles. Carmen Weiler Sastre followed up her field-leading split in the medley relay with wins in the 100 back (52.15, not far off her season best of 51.89) and the 200 back (1:53.98). She led a 1-3 Hokie sweep in the 200 back.

Kate Anderson swept the distance races with a 9:52.44 in the 1000 free and a 4:49.11 in the 500.

Emily Santos and Emily Claesson each won an individual event after contributing to the winning medley relay. Santos took the 100 breast in 1:01.55, while Claesson won the 100 free in 49.31. Nichelly Brando Lysy won the 200 breast in 2:13.81.

The 100 fly was one of the tightest races of the night, as Virginia Tech’s Athena Meneses Kovacs ran down Penn State’s Margaret Markvardt on the backhalf to win 53.25 to 53.29.

It was an unusually tight competition in the 3m diving event, where VT’s Peyton Guziec took the top spot over Penn State’s Abigail Ekstrom, 291.25 to 291.10.

The day finished with another close race. Princeton took an early lead thanks to Sabrina Johnston‘s 48.41 leadoff, and the Tigers maintained that lead until the final leg, where Athena Meneses Kovacs out split Natalie Farquhar 49.59 to 49.89, and the Hokies won, 3:17.28 to 3:17.33.

Princeton won three events on the day. Heidi Smithwick won the 200 fly in 1:57.59; she leads the Tigers with a 1:56.08 from midseason. Ela Noble won the 50 free in 20.84, just 0.02s ahead of VT’s Emily Claesson. Charlotte Martinkus won the 1m with a score of 282.05.

The Nittany Lions topped the podium twice during the day. Catherine Meisner won the 200 free in 1:46.57, marking the fastest time by a Penn State swimmer this season. Margaret Markvardt won the 200 IM in 1:59.76; she leads the team this season with a 1:58.15 from the Ohio State Invite.