Penn State Women Go 2-0 In Tri-Meet With Liberty, ECU

Penn State vs Liberty vs ECU (W)

• October 29-30, 2021
• Lynchburg, Va.
• Results

Courtesy: Penn State Athletics

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Penn State Women’s Swimming and Diving team won against Liberty and East Carolina in their third meet of the season. They topped both the Flames, 301-128, and the Pirates, 340-72, after two days of competition at Liberty Natatorium.

Graduate student Maddie Cooke and senior Marie Schobel led the Nittany Lions to victories during the final day of the meet. Cooke won two individual events this afternoon while Schobel continued her streak of backstroke event wins.

Top Swims
Cooke won the 100 IM in 57.53 and the 50 breast in 28.99. In the 50 breast, senior Olivia Jack swam to a close second in 29.29, touching after Cooke by only three tenths.

Schobel finished the 200 back in 1:57.21, placing first by over five seconds. Freshman Molly Carson impressed by winning a close battle for second in 2:02.39.

Penn State swept the top six places in the 500 free. They were led by senior Madison Murtagh, who won the event in 5:01.22. Junior Courtney Marlin followed her to second with 5:02.42, while sophomores Annie Walls, Morgan Rinn and Anna Redican placed third (5:06.12), fourth (5:09.23) and fifth (5:09.59) respectfully. Freshman Shelby Kahn swam home for sixth (5:10.28).

Sophomore Cat Stanford led the Nittany Lions in sweeping the 50 free through fourth place. She finished first in 23.23. Sophomore Mary Brinker and junior Abigail Amdor raced closely and finished second (23.47) and third (23.63), while freshman Marly Lough touched fourth (24.36).

Junior Emma Harvey led Schobel and Jack in sweeping the 50 fly. She won the event in 25.08. Schobel touched second (25.71) and Jack finished third (25.79).

Stand out freshman Maura Fluehr won the 100 fly in 56.40. Harvey placed a close second in 56.44.

Marlin won the 400 IM in 4:27.73, leading Abby Henderson to second (4:29.15).

Top Dives 
Junior Wei Wei impressed by winning the 1-Meter dive with a score of 245.45. Earlier this weekend, she and freshman Tatum Evens were Penn State’s top scorers in the 3-Meter, placing fifth and fourth with scores of 224.05 and 229.70 respectfully.

Nittany Lions Relays
The women won all of the relay’s that they competed in this weekend. Penn State placed first in the 100 medley and 100 free Friday evening and won the 200 medley and 200 free earlier today.

The Nittany Lions earned a one-two finish in 200 medley relay. They were led by the team of Schobel, Cooke, Harvey and Stanford (1:42.51) while Carson, Jack, Fluehr and Amdor followed them to second (1:44.74).

At the conclusion of the meet, the women swept the 200 free. Stanford, Cooke, Amdor and Lough led Penn State and placed first in 1:34.23. Jack, Brinker, Ellie Tiskus and Fluehr finished second (1:35.79) and Carson, Harvey, Kate Sheridan and Molly Pedersen came home for third (1:36.26).

Event Winners
500 Free – Madison Murtagh (5:01.22)
50 Free – Cat Stanford (23.23)
50 Fly – Emma Harvey (25.08)
100 IM – Maddie Cooke (57.63)
200 Back – Marie Schobel (1:57.21)
50 Breast – Maddie Cooke (28.99)
100 Fly – Maura Fluehr (56.40)
400 IM – Courtney Marlin (4:27.73)

Next Up 
Next Saturday, November 6, the men and women’s teams return home. They will welcome Bloomsburg to McCoy Natatorium.

Courtesy: Liberty Athletics

Liberty posted a 1-1 record at this weekend’s home tri meet, downing East Carolina while falling to Big Ten program Penn State.

The Nittany Lions went 2-0 this weekend, defeating the host Lady Flames 301-128 while also beating ECU 340-72. The Lady Flames downed the Pirates 339-73 in their head-to-head meet.

Penn State improves to 4-0 on the season, while Liberty’s record stands at 3-1 and ECU falls to 2-6.

The meet used a two-day format and also featured several rarely-contested events. This morning’s unique events included the 50 breaststroke, 50 butterfly and 100 individual medley.

The Lady Flames held a series of ceremonies this morning prior to the 11 a.m. session. Liberty honored 2020 CSCAA All-American Payton Keiner, and also honored its 2020 and 2021 CCSA champion teams with a ring ceremony.

Notable
• Penn State, the first Big Ten team to compete in the Liberty Natatorium, won 11 out of 12 events contested today, and 21 out of 23 for the two-day meet. ECU won the 200-yard breaststroke today, while Liberty won three-meter diving last night.

• Liberty took second place in one-meter diving (Lauren Chennault – 241.85), 200 breaststroke (Genna Joyce – 2:19.73) and the 100 IM (Jessica Schellenboom – 58.93) today.

• The Lady Flames nearly earned victory in the 200 breaststroke. ECU’s Caitlin Reynera won in 2:19.63, followed by Liberty’s Genna Joyce in 2:19.73.

• Current Liberty head coach Jake Shellenberger was an assistant coach at Penn State for three years, while associate head coach Jessica Barnes swam for the Nittany Lions.

• Liberty junior Rachel Strickland began her collegiate swimming career at East Carolina before transferring to Liberty following her freshman season of 2019-20.

Historically Speaking
• Penn State is 4-0 head-to-head against Liberty, with the last meeting being a 212-139 win for the Nittany Lions on Oct. 4, 2019 in State College, Pa.

• The Lady Flames had won their last 11 dual meets coming into today, a streak which started on Jan. 3, 2020. With Liberty’s meet against ECU being decided before its meet against Penn State, its winning streak ends at 12.

• Liberty is now 15-1 all-time in dual meets at Liberty Natatorium. The Lady Flames won 23 straight home dual meets prior to falling to Penn State today. That was the longest active home winning streak in NCAA Division I women’s swimming & diving.

Up Next
Liberty will host the TYR ’85 Invite, Nov. 19-21 at Liberty Natatorium.

Courtesy: ECU Athletics

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Sophomore Flanary Patterson posted a pair of top three finishes in diving, while junior Caitlin Reynera remained unbeaten in the 200 breaststroke highlighting East Carolina’s performance at the Liberty Tri-Meet against the Flames and Penn State. The Pirates dropped both meets falling to host Liberty 339-73 and Penn State 340-72.

“It was a tough weekend, but a great learning opportunity for our team,” head coach Matt Jabs said. “Our divers did very well. I continue to be impressed with Coach (Ryan) McIntire and the progress his divers make each time they compete.

“On the swimming side we had some positive swims, but unfortunately our results didn’t match our effort. In the end we just got out matched by two established and well coached teams. Those are the type of teams we need to (and will) be able to compete with in the future. I’m still proud of our girls and know a lot of good things are still in front of us this season.”

Patteson earned second place in the 3-meter dive (251.80) and finished third in the 1-meter (236.10) – both top scores for the Berea, Ky. native on the season.

Reynera picked up her fifth individual title in the 200 breaststroke this year with a time of 2:19.63. The Spring, Texas native also competed (individually) in the 50 breaststroke (30.14) and the 100 breaststroke (1:04.85) finishing fifth in both events. On the season, Reynera has won 13 of 15 meets she has participated in picking up five titles in the 100 breaststroke, five in the 200, two in the 200 IM and one in the 400 IM.

Other notable scores for the Pirates were Anna Otto (218.65) and Kat White (208.90) in the 3-meter, both setting personal bests on the year.

ECU returns to the pool and diving well on Friday, Nov. 19 when it competes in the Liberty Invitational. The three-day meet will be held in Lynchburg, Va. inside Liberty Natatorium.