The Penn State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened the 2016-17 season with convincing wins, defeating Towson by scores of 171-117 and 179-110, respectively, Thursday at 5 p.m. in McCoy Natatorium.
For the men, the race marked the return of Olympian Shane Ryan, who earned four golds in his first competition for the Nittany Lions since the 2014-15 season. Individually, Ryan won the 50 freestyle in 20.49 seconds and the 100 free in 44.52 seconds – more than 2 seconds faster than the next best finisher. He also anchored the 200 medley relay (1:31.93) to victory to start the meet and he gave the 200 free relay team a healthy start in the finale.
In addition to Ryan, multiple Nittany Lions claimed multiple events.
On the men’s side Senior captain Matt Stasiunas claimed the 200 freestyle in 1:39.87 and the 500 in 4:33.24. Freshman Kaelan Freund won the 100 breaststroke in 56.28, the 200 breast in 2:05.61 and was a member of the winning 200 medley team.
On the women’s side junior Emily Harris won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.84, the 200 breast in 2:19.82 and led the evening off contributing to a top of the podium finish in the 200 medley relay (1:43.52). Freshman Maddie Hart had an impressive debut, joining the winning 200 medley effort and also touching first in the 100 butterfly (56.66) and 100 back (56.08).
Another senior with a strong outing was Penn State Homecoming Queen contestant Casey Francis, who won the 1000 free in her lone event in 10:02.33 to lead a Nittany Lion sweep of the podium.
The men’s divers had a solid evening, led by sophomore Hector Garcia Boissier. Garcia posted a score of 319.17 in the 1-meter and 337.5 in the 3-meter to lead both, while Connor Scanlon also cracked 300 with a 306.07 in the 1-meter. Mackenzie Cornell led the women’s divers, with a score of 266.47 in the 3-meter and 241.80 in the 1-meter.
Penn State will next travel to Virginia Tech for another dual meet Saturday, Oct. 15.
