Ann Arbor, Mich., March 1, 2003 ¨C The Penn State men¡¯s swimming and diving team placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships which were being held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Coach Bill Dorenkott's Nittany Lions earned 316.5 points. Michigan captured its first conference title since 2000 with 727 points, followed by Minnesota (689), Indiana (455), Northwestern (378), and Wisconsin (348).

Eugene Botes (Thorton, Pa.) was the only Nittany Lion selected for the All-Big Ten team. He won the 100 Butterfly and had several top ten finishes throughout the three-day competition.

In the 100 Free, Botes and Todd Minnier (Avon Lake, Ohio) finished in third and fourth place, respectively in the 100 Free with times of 0:44.09 and 0:44.30, respectively. Other top ten individual finishes included Erik Gordon (Seattle, Wash.) who placed tenth in the 1650 Free with a time of 15:22.18, Matt Haupt (Carlisle, Pa.) touched the wall at 1:48.97 in the 200 Butterfly with an eighth place finish, and Dan Velez (Germantown, Md.) placed tenth in the 200 Breaststroke with a time of 2:01.79 In the 400 Free Relay, the quartet of Minnier, Botes, Gordon, and Haupt had a strong fourth place finish with a time of 2:58.03.

The Penn State men¡¯s swimming and diving team will be back in action on March 29-30 at the NCAA Championships in Durham, North Carolina.

-LIONS-