Ann Arbor, Mich., February 28, 2003 ¨C After the second full day of competition, the Penn State men¡¯s swimming and diving team are in sixth place at the Big Ten Championships, which are being held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Senior Eugene Botes (Thorton, Pa.) had an outstanding first place finish in the 100 Butterfly by breaking both the pool and meet record with the time of 0:47.40. In the 200 Freestyle Todd Minnier (Avon Lake, Ohio) placed seventh with a time of 1:38.77. The foursome of Botes, Willie Gordon (Alpharetta, Ga.), Minnier, and Matt Haupt (Carlisle, Pa.) touched the wall at the time of 6:33.06 with a strong fourth place finish in the 800 Freestyle Relay. Sophomore Marc Gastaldo (Oakland, Maine) came through for the Nittany Lions with a sixth place finish in the 3-meter diving with a time 508.75.

Head Coach Bill Dorenkott stated ¡°I¡¯m very excited about Eugene Botes win in the Butterfly, I give credit to his athleticism and training. We¡¯re looking forward to a good third day of competition. Diving coach Craig Brown added ¡°Marc did a terrific job in his first Big Ten finals composing himself and executing accurately for the entire finals contest.¡±

Tomorrow¡¯s preliminary heats will begin at 12:00 p.m., while the finals start at 8:00 p.m. Live results will be available on www.GOPSUsports.com throughout the competition.