The Penn State men’s swimming & diving team completed its time at McCorkle Aquatic Center on Saturday afternoon, dropping duals to No. 4 Michigan, 264-70, and host No. 9 Ohio State, 243-91.
Facing its toughest competition of the season, the Nittany Lions (2-6) were unable to overcome two fast teams in OSU and Michigan. Senior Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.) had the highlight showing of the day in the 100 breaststroke. Scherer clocked a 55.67, narrowly defeated by Michigan’s Richard Funk (55.64), topping all Ohio State swimmers.
Sean Grier also posted a second-place finish in the 100 fly in a time of 48.65. Grier out-swam all Ohio State swimmers in the process to help pace Penn State.
Another top performance was freshman Nate Savoy’s (Reading, Pa.) third-place swim in the 200 backstroke, finishing in a time of 1:47.16 behind senior All-Americans from OSU and Michigan. Savoy came back later to finish fifth in the 200 IM with a time of 1:51.76. Fellow freshman Nick Ankosko was fifth in the 500 freestyle (4:32.31) just tenths of a second off a personal-best.
The day was capped by the 200 freestyle relay of Andrew Sidears (Philadelphia, Pa.), Shane Austin (Kennett Square, Pa.), Grier and Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.) with a fourth-place outing in a time of 1:23.45. The A team 200 medley relay was one of two disqualifications including OSU’s top squad.
The Nittany Lions were once again without the services of All-American freestyle specialist Brian Alden (Lansdale, Pa.) who is still working back from injury.
Penn State will honor its four seniors—Alden, Scherer, Marino and Brent Sanderson (Chadds Ford, Pa.)—next weekend as the Nittany Lions participate in two duals. PSU hosts Buffalo on Friday at 4:00 p.m. before taking on Lehigh at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Senior Meet ceremonies will take place prior to the Lehigh meet along with the Nittany Lion women.