The Penn State men’s swimming and diving team sent its eight seniors out on a high note, as the Nittany Lions handled the Navy Midshipmen 173-127, Saturday at McCoy Natatorium. The seniors did not disappoint in their final home meet as a trio of them earned first place finishes in individual events, including Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.), who led the way with a pair of golds.
Savoy, the reigning Big Ten men’s swimmer of the week finished first in the 200 back (1:47.59) and 200 IM (1:51.00), but also swam for two first place finishing Penn State relay teams. He along with Bob Bantley (Maple Glen, Pa.), Matt Grillo (Montreal, Quebec) and fellow senior Jeff Young (Hershey, Pa) were fastest in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:22.19.
Savoy also teamed up with Andrew Schuehler (Camden, N.J.), fellow senior Kyle Madley (Madison, N.J.) and Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.) to win another gold in the 200 yard medley relay with a 1:30.56 time. While Savoy’s accomplishments were impressive they did not eclipse those of Ryan, who won a total of three individual events on Saturday.
Ryan touched the wall first in the 100 back (49.10) which was a season best time, he also was fastest in the 50 free (20.41) and the 100 free (44.95).
Other seniors racking up medals on their special day included Nick Ankosko (East Brunswick, N.J.), who was the fastest in the 1,000 free (9:21.34) and third in the 500 free (4:30.08) as well as Young, who finished second in the 50 free (20.65), followed by a third place finish in the 100 free (46.30).
Kyle Madley (Madison, N.J.) earned silver in the 100 fly with his 49.70 performance and then bronze in the 200 fly (1:51.86). Rounding out the senior swimmers medal count was Jonathan Ekstrom (Silver Spring, Md.), who placed third in the 100 breast (56.85) and third in the 200 IM (1:53.23).
Sophomore Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) had a solid day, leading the way for the underclassman. The second-year swimmer was second in the 1,000 free with a career best time of 9:22.77. He also earned silver in the 500 free (4:30.02).
In the diving portion of Saturday’s dual, the Penn State men took both the one and three meters. Senior T.J. Schenkel (Richboro, Pa.) earned a career best 322.19 score and finished first, while freshman Travis Wright (Derby, N.Y.) placed second with a season best 306.22 tally.
Schenkel then made it two-for-two on the boards as he took home the gold in the three meter with a season best score of 349.80. PSU swept the event as following Schenkel was Wright with his season best score of 338.85. Fellow freshman Connor Scanlon rounded out the podium with his third place and season best performance of 320.70.
The Nittany Lions improve to 6-3 on the season and finish 2014-15 with a home dual record of 4-1. Although head coach Tim Murphy said so long to eight seniors on Saturday, there is still plenty to be done in the pool as Penn State will next take part in the Virginia Tech Invite (Feb. 7-8) in Blacksburg, Va., before heading to the Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, scheduled for Feb. 25-28.
The 17th-ranked Penn State women’s swimming and diving team gave its seniors a proper send-off from McCoy Natatorium, posting the top performances in 15 out of 16 events en route to a 174-115 victory over Navy Saturday afternoon in the Nittany Lions’ home finale.
Ten different Lions won individual events, with senior Megan Siverling (Chester Springs, Pa.), junior Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec) and sophomore Mackenzie Cornell (Germantown, Md.) winning two each. Penn State will finish the 2014-15 season with a 10-1 dual meet record, while Navy fell to 6-3.
Siverling continued to her dominance of the distance frees, posting the fastest times in the 1000 (10 minutes, 11.56 seconds,) and the 500 (4:54.98.) Ackman led sweeps of the 100 back (56.11) and 100 free (50.53), while Cornell was victorious in both the 1- and 3-meter dives, followed closely in second place by senior Meredith Harbison.
Finishing in (1:49.52) senior Caitlyn Karr (Reading, Pa.) narrowly claimed the 200 free over teammate Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.), who touched in 1:49.69, to lead a sweep of the top four places in the event. She also contributed to the top 200 medley relay effort (1:42.55) and the second-best 200 free relay team (1:35.29). Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) was on the same relay teams and led a 1-2 senior finish in the 50 free in 23.28 seconds. Classmate Katelyn Miller (Hershey, Pa.) touched second in 23.34 seconds and was a member of both second-place relay teams.
Additional event winners included Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico), who claimed the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.55, while Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.) touched second in 1:05.59. Freshmen Hannah Harper (Charlottesville, Va., 2:04.27) and Tommie Dillione (Newtown, Pa., 2:07.24) led a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 butterfly, as sophomore Annie Valentine (Dearborn, Mich.) finished just .04 seconds behind Dillione in third. Anna Farnsworth (State College, Pa.) paced the 200 back in 2:03.84, while Taylor Cameron (Burlington, Ohio) did the same in the 200 breast (2:23.08). The Nittany Lions then posted the four fastest times in the 100 butterfly, led by Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) in 56.04 seconds.
Navy’s lone win came in the 200 individual medley, as Charlotte Meyer posted the fastest time of 2:05.14.
PSU will have just two more tune-ups before the Big Ten Championship. Select members will compete in the Bucknell Invitational Saturday, Jan. 31 at 10:30 a.m. and the Virginia Tech Challenge the following week (Feb. 7-8). Ohio State is hosting the conference championship Feb. 18-21.
Tom Duvall (Jr., Durham, N.H.), Mathias Porter (Fr., Signal Mountain, Tenn.) and Jonathan Debaugh (Jr., Conroe, Texas) each won a pair of individual events on the day to highlight the efforts of the Navy swimming and diving teams in losses to Penn State Saturday at McCoy Natatorium in University Park, Pa. The Nittany Lions won the men’s meet by a final score of 173-127 and claimed the women’s dual by a count of 174-115.
Navy’s men’s team enters the final week of the regular season with a 6-5 record in dual meets, while the Navy women have tallied a record of 6-3. Penn State’s men’s team improved its record to 6-3 on the year with the win, while the 17th-ranked women’s squad from the school now has a 10-1 record this season.
“Looking past the placement of our swimmers and divers in each event,” said Navy women’s swimming head coach John Morrison, “we are pleased with the times we were able to put up there against a program that is in the top tier of teams in the country. We made some significant adjustments and changes from our last meet, and I think we are heading in the right direction. We are still not quite as fast as we want to be, but our focus is on being at that level during the league championship. In that regard, today showed we are doing well on the path toward reaching that goal.”
“I was real pleased with the level of our efforts today,” said Navy men’s swimming head coach Bill Roberts. “The performances we had were not what we were hoping for overall, but we did have some good individual highlights. We also saw some good efforts after Penn State had already built a healthy lead.”
Duvall began his meet by posting a time of 1:39.04 to win the 200 free by two-tenths of a second. After placing second by one second in the 100 free, he then won the 500 free by a little more than one second with a clocking of 4:28.95.
Porter’s initial win of the day came in the 100 breast as he touched the wall in a time of 56.59 to edge teammate Marlin Brutkiewicz (So., Mobile, Ala.) for the victory by 19-hundredths of a second. He completed the sweep of the breaststroke events by winning the 200 breast in a time of 2:03.54. Placing second and third in the event were Navy’s Young Tae Seo (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif.) and Brutkiewicz, respectively with their times of 2:04.04 and 2:04.58.
Debaugh also led a 1-2 Navy finish in his first victory of the day, the 200 fly. He recorded a time of 1:50.58 to win the event, with teammate Billy Draves (Sr., Gilbertsville, Pa.) placing second in a time of 1:51.50. After winning the longer version of the butterfly races, he went on to win the shorter edition of it as his time of 49.63 gave him the victory in the 100 fly by seven-hundredths of a second.
Recording the lone victory on the day for the Navy women’s team was Charlotte Meyer (So., Bethesda, Md.), who won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:05.14. That clocking gave her a 1.55-second margin of victory in the race.
Additionally, three members of the Navy women’s team placed second in an event against the Nittany Lions. Jenny Smith (Fr., Columbus, Ohio) was the runner-up in the 1000 free, Emily Ranzau (Fr., Johns Creek, Ga.) placed second in the 200 backstroke and Kristine Doan (Jr., San Ramon, Calif.) took silver in the 200 breaststroke.
Both Navy teams will close the home portion of their respective seasons Wednesday when the Mids play host to Johns Hopkins in a 5 p.m. meet in Lejeune Hall.
