University Park, Pa.; November 7, 2006 - The Penn State women¡¯s swimming team and selected members of the men¡¯s swimming team competed at the Big Cat Invitational this past weekend at their home pool, McCoy Natatorium. The Nittany Lions were the only collegiate swimmers at the meet, which was a primarily a club meet that featured club teams and swimmers of many different age groups. The women¡¯s team picked up five first place finishes in the events in which they swam while the men¡¯s team had one first place finish.
The meet was the women¡¯s last meet until Thanksgiving weekend while the men¡¯s team will have one more meet next weekend before both teams head to Toronto for Thanksgiving weekend for a meet.
Penn State¡¯s women continued their dominance of the 200 butterfly event as the three K¡¯s--Kelly Nelson, Kailey Morris and Karie Haglund--finished 1-2-3. All three, each of whom have already swam NCAA ¡®B¡¯ provisional times earlier this year, all swam ¡®B¡¯ cuts once again in claiming the top three spots for the third straight meet. Nelson claimed first, giving each of them one first place finish in the 200 fly in the first three meets of the year.
Lindsey DeForrest won her first collegiate event by coming in first in the 100 freestyle in :52.50. Molly Crispell was just behind her at :52.66. Clare Clemens won the 200 breaststroke while Abby Hoisington, Kaitlyn Ferguson and Megan Palera finished 3-4-5. Michelle Myers won the first individual event of her college career by capturing first in the 100 backstroke at :58.40. Karie Haglund won her second individual event of the year by winning the 200 IM in 2:05.18, knocking off .70 of a second from her previous swim in the 200 IM this year. Finishing right behind Haglund were Nelson, Kaitlin O¡¯Brien, Kailey Morris and Daphne Skelos.
On the men¡¯s side, only eight swimmers competed and all were freshman or sophomores. Freshman Andrew Criner turned in an overall strong weekend as he finished third in the 100 free, second in both the 100 and 200 back, and third in the 50 free. Trey Rabinek placed third in the 500 free, second in the 200 fly and fifth in the 100 fly. Max Ettore won his division¡¯s race of the 500 freestyle in 4:43.83 and he also placed fourth in the 200 free. Kevin Rybicki, a sophomore transfer from Maryland, placed second in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 IM. Also notable was David Harari, who finished second in the 100 free and fourth in the 500 free.
The men¡¯s team will head to Purdue this upcoming weekend for a two-day meet featuring five teams. The Nittany Lions will have dual meets with the host Boilermakers as well as Utah, Georgia and Louisville. Both the men¡¯s and women¡¯s team will then swim at the Bell Grand Prix, a three-day meet to be held November 23-25 in Toronto, Ontario.
