Casey Francis (East Meadow, N.Y.) set a new Penn State and McCoy Natatorium record in the women’s swimming mile, as the Nittany Lions completed the first of three sessions of the Penn State Invite Friday evening.
The Penn State women totaled 445 points in the invitational-scored, three-team meet’s first session to take a commanding lead over second-place Princeton (278) and third-place UConn (228). The Penn State men (372) trail Princeton (373) by one point, while UConn is third with 228 points.
Francis touched first in 16 minutes, 5.37 seconds to break the previous Penn State standard of 16:07.55 set by Megan Siverling at the 2015 Big Ten Championships. Katelyn Sowinski (Severna Park, Md.) followed in second in 16:25.78. Both times bested the NCAA ‘B’-cut standard.
“I was in shock,” said Francis. “This week they were changing the records up on the board. I looked because I was curious what the pool record was in the mile because we don’t really swim the mile a lot in dual meets, it’s usually the 1000. I saw that it was 16:21 … so I was hoping for 16:21 or better. An then to look up at the board and see 16:05 – I was in shock.”
Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.) achieved the ‘B’ standard on the men’s side en route to a victory in the 1650 free, touching in 15:29.15. Robbie Dickson (Greenwich, N.J.) followed in 15:42.00.
Freshman Hector Garcia Boissier (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain) also led on the men’s side with a season-best score of 353.80 in the 1-meter dive. Teammate Logan Knauss (Audubon, Pa.) was second at 315.85.
The women opened the session by sweeping the top two places in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec), Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.), Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.) and Haley Sinatro (West Hartford, Conn.) swam a season-best time of 1:31.97 to place first.
The Lions were dominant in the 200 individual medley, sweeping the top six places, led by Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) in 2:02.34. They were similarly dominant in the 50 free, as Saloky led a top-four sweep, touching in 23.47.
Mackenzie Cornell (Germantown, Md.) placed second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 281.30.
Additionally, on the men’s side Tim Maurer (Hershey, Pa.) and Rory Lewis (Kensington, Md.) placed first (1:50.73) and third (1:52.30), respectively, with season best times in the 200 IM. Matt Grillo (Montreal, Quebec) placed third in the 50 free (20.94) to lead the Lions in the event, in which Princeton claimed the top two places. Zach Kantz (Mount Bethel, Pa.) and Tomer Zamir (Gesher Haziv, Israel) followed in fourth (21.01) and fifth (21.03), respectively.
Princeton edged Penn State for the team lead during the 400 medley relay, the sixth and final event of the opening session. The Tigers’ A-team won in 3:17.81, while the Lions’ team of Zamir, Andrew Schueler (Camden, N.J.), Lewis and Grillo was second in 3:23.61. The Tigers also bested Penn State in the opening 200 free relay, touching the wall in 1:22.07 to Penn State’s 1:23.11.
The Penn State Invite will continue Saturday with the final two sessions starting at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
Women – Session 1
1. Penn State - 445
2. Princeton - 278
3. Connecticut - 259
Men – Session 1
1. Princeton - 373
2. Penn State - 372
3. Connecticut - 228
