The Penn State Nittany Lions hit the road to face West Virginia Thursday night, coming out with a pair of wins by almost identical scores. The men won 145-98 on a pair of distance wins from Matt Stasiunas, while the women took the “W” 144-99, keying on a 1-2 -3-4 finish in the 400 free relay.
The meet featured an abbreviated dual meet lineup, with all the freestyle events, but the women swimming the shorter distances of the non-free events (200 IM, 100 back/fly/breast) and the men taking the longer distances (400 IM, 200 back/fly/breast).
Men’s Meet
Sophomore Matt Stasiunas led the way for Penn State, sweeping the distance races. He got the first individual win at 9:30.77 in the 1000 free, then doubled his total with a 4:35.31 in the 500. Both times gave him wins by over 8 seconds.
West Virginia countered with double wins from Nate Carr. The sophomore was just a few seconds off a pool record in the 400 IM, going 3:59.48. He also won the 200 breast to close out the individual portion of the meet, going 2:04.94 to run away with the win.
But Penn State was too deep for the Mountaineers to overcome. Nate Savoy continued to be a force for PSU, jumping out of his usual backstrokes to win the 200 free in 1:40.43 and leading a 1-2 finish with Ryan O’Neill. Jeff Young (21.25) and Matt Grillo (21.35) also went 1-2 in the 50 free.
Savoy and Young bookended the winning 200 medley relay, with Savoy’s 22.73 being especially impressive. That staked his team to a big lead, and PSU went 1:33.39 to win by just .08 over West Virginia. The final relay wasn’t nearly as close, with Young leading off in 45.98 and Savoys going 44.95 to help Penn State win in 3:02.07, a margin of almost four seconds over West Virginia.
With no Savoy in the 200 back, it was Tim Maurer who kept the Nittany Lions on top. His 1:51.78 picked up the win by half a second.
West Virginia also got wins from Andrew Marsh (100 free, 45.61) and Michael Proietto (1-meter diving, 295.87). Penn State took the other diving event with Travis Wright (275.93 on 3-meter), and also saw Kyle Madley win the 200 fly in 1:53.12.
The final score for the men was 145-98.
Women’s Meet
Penn State showed off its depth to win this one, as each team won 5 individual races in all. But Penn State dominated the relays to cruise to the 144-99 win.
Megan Siverling had a nice 200 free for the Nittany Lions, going 1:49.52 to lead a 1-2-3 charge. Kaitlin Jones was second (1:51.76) and Katelyn Sowinski third (1:52.27).
Penn State also went 1-2-3 in the 200 IM, led by Nicole Price’s 2:07.00 and the 100 free, thanks to Kaitlin Soloky‘s 52.08.
The last winner for Penn State was Carolyn Fittin, who picked up the 100 fly title in a quick 55.98, and also swam on two winning relays.
Fittin split 24.68 on the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay, helping Penn State go 1:44.69 to win easily. She then led off the 400 free relay in 51.49, to help the winning crew go 3:28.56. Also quick on that relay was Caitlyn Karr, who split 51.41 to keep Penn State in the lead. The Nittany Lions would finish 1-2-3-4 in the event to punctuate a big day.
West Virginia picked up a pair of distance wins from Emma Skelley. She went 10:05.49 in the 1000 and 4:58.59 in the 500 to keep WVU in the hunt. Second behind her in that 1000 was Katie Rowe of Penn State, who would go on to win the 100 back in 56.87.
Mountaineer diver Haily Vande Poel got two wins of her own, sweeping diving with 293.92 on 1-meter and 264.30 on the higher springboard.
Sprinter Jaimee Gillmore was the only woman under 24 seconds in the 50 free, going 23.84 to win. She beat out a whole host of Nittany Lions for that title. WVU’s other win came from Jenelle Zee in the 100 breast. Zee went 1:04.53.
Wondering where Shane Ryan is?? Is he injured??
And for the second weekend in a row, no Shane Ryan for PSU.
Hmm. Academic issues again? Would be a shame if he misses another Champs season. Dude needs more big meets.
Maybe just move to SwimMAC and focus on swimming (don’t want to get slaughtered for this, but sometimes people just aren’t built for school)? From a TeamUSA standpoint, I would hate to see his progress into the Uber Elite slowed because he’s missing time to catch up in class.
Probably academic although who knows… From a swimming standpoint some would have to agree with you Hulk, he could be a major player on the national team if he keeps competing, but if he doesn’t what’s the point of staying in school? Can always come back to get degree later, USA needs him now