Ball State
The Ball State women’s swimming and diving team had a strong showing in the first day of competition at the Ohio State Winter Invitational. Senior Jackie Iglesias and freshman Courtney Mudd each earned two season-best times. The meet continues Sunday, Feb. 9 at the Bill and Mae McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
Iglesias finished fourth in the 100 back and improved on her season-best time by nearly three seconds after turning in a 58.06. Mudd earned sixth place in the event by also clocking a season-best time with a 58.65.
In the 100 free, Iglesias came in seventh place with a season-best 54.74. Mudd was close behind in eighth place with a season-best 54.78. Freshman Genevieve Hayes earned 11th place with a 56.86. Hayes also competed in the 500 free where she finished fifth with a time of 5:24.64.
The Ohio State Winter Invitational will continue Sunday.
Penn State Men
The Penn State men’s swimmers had an impressive showing in the first day of the Ohio State Invitational, grabbing three victories in the six events that a Nittany Lion competed in on Saturday.
The Blue and White’s Harrison Grimm (Fairview, Pa.), Tim Maurer (Hershey, Pa.) and Larry Virgilio (Pine Bush, N.Y.) each recorded his first victory of the 2013-14 season. All three swimmers also set personal bests in either the prelims or finals.
Grimm was the first Penn State swimmer to reach the top of the podium, with a victory in the 100 breaststroke. The sophomore set a career-best mark in the prelims with a time of 57.24 to grab the top qualifying spot. In the final Grimm finished in 57.73 for the win.
The second Nittany Lion to win on the evening was Maurer. The redshirt sophomore touched the wall first in the 100 backstroke final with a time of 50.09 after qualifying second earlier in the day with a time of 50.77. The time in the final is the fastest time of his career.
Maurer also set a personal best time in the 100 butterfly with a mark of 49.53, recording the fastest time in the prelims. In the final of the event the sophomore finished second in 49.72, just .05 seconds from Ohio State’s Keanu Stephenson first place time of 49.67.
Penn State finished the day off in fine fashion, as Virgilio won the 100 freestyle, the final individual event of day one of the invite. The junior followed up his career-best qualifying time of 45.60 to finish first in the prelims with a time of 45.70 in the final to post a first-place finish.
Two other Nittany Lions who recorded noteworthy performances to kick off the invite were Andrew Eiken (Naperville, Ill.) and Philip Kang (Leonia, N.J.). Eiken raced to third place in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:32.41 in the final after setting a personal best mark of 4:30.27 in the prelims.
Kang swam the 400 IM for the second time in his young career and placed third in the event, touching the wall in 3:58.06 in the final after finishing in 3:57.86 in the qualifiers.
The team is back in the water tomorrow to close out the Ohio State Invitational. After the two-day competition this weekend the squad will turn its focus to the Big Ten Championships which start on Wednesday, February 26 and runs through Saturday, March 1 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Penn State Women
The Penn State women’s swimming team turned in a dominant performance in the first day of the Ohio State Invitational, registering wins five of the six events held on Saturday. The day was full of personal records as each swimmer hit either a season or career-best mark in the prelims or the finals of their individual events.
Freshman Kerry Treusdell (Churchville, Md.) kicked things off for the Blue and White, claiming first in the 500 free with a season-best time of 4:54.02. Fellow freshman Bridget Moody (Port Washington, N.Y.) followed Treusdell, registering a second place finish in 4:56.20. Moody notched a personal-best time earlier in the day in the prelims, touching the wall in 4:55.04.
Hannah Matheson (Skillman, N.J.) topped the field in the 100 fly, clocking in at a season-best 55.45 and Annie Valentine (Dearborn, Mich.) came in second, posting a personal-best time of 57.37.
Sara Somers (Haverford, Pa.) also set a season-best time in her event and earned a spot atop the podium. The senior out-swam the competition in the prelims and the finals of the 100 breaststroke, recording a top time of 1:04.94 in the qualifying round and finishing first in the finals in 1:05.35.
Jenna Bickel (Slingerlands, N.UY) continued to show improvement in the 100 backstroke, turning in a season-best time of 55.64 to claim first in the event.
Allie Pennetti (Wexford, Pa.) closed out the day of competition with a career-best time of 51.53 in the 100 free to earn first place.
The Nittany Lions return to the pool on Sunday for the final day of the Ohio State Invitational. Up next for the Lions are the Big Ten Championships, which are set to begin on Wednesday, Feb. 19 and conclude on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Minneapolis, Minn.
