Penn State Swimming Sweeps Villanova

UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State swimming swept Villanova on Halloween night as the men won 150-101 and the women took a 156-101 victory.

Penn State Press Release

The Penn State men’s swimming and diving team swept the podium in five events with eight Nittany Lions earning the top spot en route to a 150-101 win over Villanova (0-4) on Friday.

The Blue and White (4-1) earned the top three spots in the 200 back, 50 free, 200 fly, 100 breast and 100 back.

The meet opened in striking fashion for Penn State, which put three 400 medley relay teams on the podium, led by a 3:22.77 time from Shane Ryan (Havertown, Pa.), Andrew Schuehler (Camden, N.J.), Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.) and Jeff Young (Hershey, Pa.)

The Nittany Lions continued to sweep the podium in the 100 back. Ryan, Kyle Madley (Madison, N.J.) and Ryan O’Neill (Howell Twp., N.J.) posted 49.80, 51.57 and 54.02 marks.

Matt Stasiunas (Avondale, Pa.), Joseph Ahlberg (Glastonbury, Conn.) and David Gross (Perryville, Md.) earned the meet’s top three times in the 200 fly, while the trio of Young, Harrison Grimm (Fairview, Pa.) and Kevin Glenn (Matthews, N.C.) posted podium-sweeping performances of their own.

Ryan, Ryan Magee (Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.) and Madley also went 1-2-3 in the 200 back, led by Ryan’s 1:52.89, and Zach Kantz (Mount Bethel, Pa.), Larry Virgilio (Pine Bush, N.Y.) and Tim Mauer (Hershey, Pa.) in the 50 free, with Kantz touching the wall in a meet-best 21.27 time.

Earning meet titles were Bob Bantley (Maple Glen, Pa.) in the 200 free (1:42.86), Conall Loughlin (Blue Bell, Pa.) in the 1,000 free (9:41.82) and Savoy in the 100 free (45.64). Ahlberg also captured gold in the 200 breast for his first collegiate win after swimming to a 2:11.72 mark.

Continuing its undefeated dual meet record this season, the No. 14 Penn State women’s swimming and diving team picked up a convincing 156-101 victory against Villanova at McCoy Natatorium on Friday afternoon.

The Nittany Lions finished first in 10 of the 16 events.

Penn State improved to a perfect 7-0 on the season, while Villanova moved to 2-2. The squad improved to 21-1 all-time against the Wildcats. The team’s 7-0 start is its best since the 2007-08 squad finished the season 11-0.

Seniors Megan Siverling (Chester Springs, Pa.) and Caitlyn Karr (Reading, Pa.) each picked up multiple individual victories in the meet. Siverling touched the wall in 10:02.52 to top the field in the 1000-yard freestyle before winning the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.08. Karr touched the wall first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.76) and also took first place in the 500-yard freestyle with a mark of 4:57.35.

The Nittany Lions started off the meet by taking the first two spots in the 400-yard medley relay. The team of junior Casey Fazio (Washington Township, Pa.), junior Melissa Rodriguez (Chihuahua, Mexico), senior Carolyn Fittin (Sea Girt, N.J.) and junior Alyson Ackman (Montreal, Quebec) clocked in at 3:46.78.

Later, sophomore Anna Farnsworth (State College, Pa.) came out on top in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.18. Senior Katelyn Miller (Hershey, Pa.) swam to a time of 23.63, a season-best, in the 50-yard freestyle, while sophomore Megan Wujciak (Livingston, N.J.) won the 100 free (51.42).

Ackman touched the wall first in the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 2:02.43, before Haley Sinatro rounded out the Penn State victories with a mark of 2:24.78 in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Villanova Press Release

The Villanova women’s swimming team (2-2) lost a Friday meet to Penn State in the first road event of the season, 156-101.

The No. 14 Nittany Lions gained a lead earlier on and held onto it for the win.

Overall, the Wildcats finished with four first-place, four second-place and 10 third-place finishes.

Junior Fiona Hardie (Hampshire, England/Bournemouth School) led the `Cats in the pool with wins in the 100 and 200 butterfly. Hardie swam a 56.52 in the 100 fly and a 2:05.22 in the 200. In three 100 fly races this year, her time tonight was the about a half second faster than what she swam against UConn last Friday (56.95).

Freshman Gabby Daigneault (Montreal, Quebec/William H. Hall), who was recently named the BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week, also won an event, swimming a 2:08.74 in the 200 IM. It comes as her seventh individual victory of the season and second in an individual medley event following her 4:31.44 first-place win in the 400 IM against West Virginia last Saturday.

The women closed the event with a first-place 200 freestyle relay finish as Hardie, junior Kaisla Kollanus (Hyvinkaa, Finland/Makelanrinteen Iukio), senior Katrin Heider (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany/Herkenrath) and senior Sara Jurek (Gilbert, Ariz./Chandler) earned the final 11 points for the Wildcats.

Sophomore Emily Mayo (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) earned a second place finish in the 1000 freestyle at 10:11.60. It comes as her second second-place mark in the event this season.

Freshman Olivia Caccitore (Rockford, Ill./Belvidere North) finished second in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:26.62.

The Villanova men’s swimming team (0-4) fell on Friday evening to No. 18 Penn State by the final of 150-101 in University Park, Pa.
The Wildcats finished with four first-place, four second-place and six third-place finishes.

Sophomore Greg Cino (Princeton Junction, N.J./West Windsor Plainsboro) clocked a 4:51.45 in the 500 freestyle for nine points. It came as his second fastest time in the event this season in three tries.

Freshman Logan Ziegler (Mechanicsville, Va./Maggie L. Walker) swam a 54.23 in the 100 butterfly for first place. It was just the third race that the freshman participated in this season after racing the 50 breast and 50 fly vs. West Virginia last Saturday.

Freshman Andrew Stotesbery (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) earned nine points in the first-place 200 IM with a time of 2:03.51. Stotesbery swam a 2:03.18 in a second-place 200 IM finish last Friday against UConn.

Freshman Jake Hoin (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Prep) finished second in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:14.69, the fastest of his three tries in this event on the season.

The men closed out the meet with a first place finish in the 200 freestyle relay at the helm of junior Ryan Murtha (Philadelphia, Pa./La Salle College High School), sophomore Mike Rodriguez (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes), senior Chris Tamanini (Kingston Twp., Pa./Dallas) and senior Jason Moyer (Coopersburg, Pa./Southern Lehigh), who was named the Men’s BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week on Tuesday.

Results: Villanova vs. Penn State

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