Photo Courtesy: Mark Selders
MORGANTOWN – Megan Siverling set a new pool record in the 200 free to lead the Penn State University swimming and diving teams to a sweep of West Virginia on Thursday night. The women’s team came out ahead 144-99, while the men cruised to a 145-98 victory. Penn State won 16 of the 26 events contested in the meet.
Penn State Men’s Press Release
The Penn State men’s swimming and diving team captured nine-of-13 titles en route to a 145-98 victory over West Virginia on Thursday. Five different Nittany Lions finished first in individual events, including Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pennsylvania) who won the 500 and 1,000 free titles.
Stasiunas took first in the 1,000 free after touching the wall in 9:30.77 and won the 500 free with a 4:35.31 time, eight seconds more than the second-place finisher.
Penn State’s relay teams also had success, sweeping the meet’s relay events after finishing with the top marks in the 200 medley and 400 free relays. The dual opened with a 1:33.39 showing in the 200 medley by Nate Savoy (Reading, Pennsylvania), Andrew Schuehler (Camden, New Jersey), Kyle Madley (Madison, New Jersey) and Jeff Young (Hershey, Pennsylvania). The Blue and White closed out the evening in similar fashion when Young, Savoy, Stasiunas and Bob Bantley’s (Maple Glen, Pennsylvania) 3:02.07 time in the 400 free relay set the pool record.
Savoy and Ryan O’Neill (Howell, New Jersey) took the top two spots in the 200 free, swimming to 1:40.43 and 1:42.81 times, while Young and Matt Grillo (Montreal, Quebec) went one (21.25) and two (21.35) in the 50 free.
Madley’s 1:53.12 mark in the 200 fly topped the field and, in the 200 back, Tim Maurer (Hershey, Pennsylvania) touched the wall in 1:51.78 for first place.
Competing on the 3-meter board, Travis Wright (Derby, New York) won the first event of his collegiate career with a 275.93 score.
The Nittany Lions host Villanova on Fri., Oct. 31 at 3 p.m. in McCoy Natatorium.
Penn State Women’s Press Release
Improving to a perfect 6-0 in dual meets this season, the Penn State swimming and diving team defeated West Virginia, 144-99, on the road Thursday evening. The Nittany Lions are now 23-0 all-time against the Mountaineers.
Penn State earned wins in seven of 13 events and totaled 23 top-three finishes on the evening. Five different individuals picked up first-place finishes and the Nittany Lions added two relay victories.
The 200-yard medley relay team of junior Allie Pennetti (Wexford, Pa.), junior Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico), senior Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) and junior Kaitlin Jones (Midlothian, Va.) opened the event by topping the field with a time of 1:44.69 in the finals, starting off the meet with 11 early points.
Later, the Nittany Lions swept the 400-yard freestyle relay, earning the top two finishes. Fittin, senior Caitlyn Karr (Reading, Pa.), senior Katelyn Miller (Hershey, Pa.) and senior Megan Siverling (Chester Springs, Pa.) combined for a mark of 3:28.56 to take first.
Individually, Siverling started things off for Penn State by touching the wall first in the 200-yard freestyle with a mark of 1:49.52, a pool record. The Nittany Lions posted the top three finishers in the event.
Freshman Niki Price (Manchester, Pa.) earned her first career win, clocking in at 2:07.00 in the 200-yard IM, where the Nittany Lions again tallied the top three times. Fittin, a member of each first-place relay team, snagged individual gold in the 100-yard butterfly (55.98).
In the 100-yard free, sophomore Katie Saloky (Bloomsburg, Pa.) also picked up her first career victory, earning nine points for Penn State with a time of 52.08 in the finals. Miller and Siverling rounded out the top three to pile on some points for the Nittany Lions.
Junior Katie Rowe (Glenville, N.Y.) topped the field on the 100-yard backstroke, clocking in almost two seconds ahead of the second-place finisher with a time of 56.87.
Sophomore Mackenzie Cornell (Germantown, Md.) led the Penn State divers, taking third on the 1-meter board with a six-dive total of 246.98.
The Nittany Lions return home on Oct. 31, hosting Villanova at McCoy Natatorium for a 3 p.m. dual meet.
West Virginia Press Release
The West Virginia University swimming and diving teams fell to Penn State in a dual meet, today, at the WVU Natatorium.
PSU claimed a 144-99 victory on the women’s side and a 145-98 win on the men’s side.
“As I said about our preparation for the meet, I think the most important thing for us was to stay focused on what we do best. We did that really well today,” said coach Vic Riggs. “We had a lot of solid racing in our distance and sprint events.”
Some of the meet’s highlights included Emma Skelley’s victory in the women’s 1,000 free with a season-best time of 10:05.49. Skelley also won the women’s 500 free in 4:58.49.
The women’s 50 free saw Jaimee Gillmore place first for the Mountaineers in 23.84. On the men’s side, West Virginia’s Andrew Marsh took the win in the 100 free in 45.61.
“We had a little meet inside the meet to challenge ourselves, as we wanted to be better than what we were against Marshall,” Riggs said. “We had 12 girls and 15 guys who were 100-percent better on their event times than they were at Marshall.”
Nate Carr’s season-best time of 3:59.48 in the men’s 400 IM was good enough for first place, while coming close to breaking the pool record of 3:57.05 set in 2008. Carr also placed first in the men’s 200 breast in 2:04.94
Julie Ogden placed second in the women’s 100 fly with a season-best time of 56.66. Also for the Mountaineer women, Jenelle Zee took first in the 100 breast, finishing in 1:04.53.
“The team competed well. It has to be recognized that Emma, Jaimee, Andrew and Nate definitely responded to some really solid competition,” Riggs said. “I think that’s going to lead to some success down the line for them.”
For the second straight competition, WVU’s Haily VandePoel swept the women’s 1- and 3-meter boards. VandePoel scored 293.92 on the 1-meter board and 264.30 on the 3-meter. The men’s side saw West Virginia’s Michael Proietto claim first in the 1-meter diving event with a score of 295.87.
“The divers performed really well with the women sweeping the two boards, and the men taking the one board and scoring second in the other,” Riggs said.
The Mountaineers will have a quick turnaround as they travel to face Villanova on Saturday, Oct. 25. The action is set to begin at noon.
Don’t know for sure but would bet dollars to donuts Siverling is sister of university of North Carolina freestyler Danielle.
And time flies dept.: Virginia’s Kaitlyn Jones was a single if not multi,gold-medalist at the inaugural Youth Olhmpics in Singapore in summer if ’10 and she’s as ooh for the Cavs.