West Virginia Transfer Mackenzie Pagett Leads Penn State Sweep of Mountaineers

West Virginia Transfer Mackenzie Pagett Leads Penn State Sweep of Mountaineers
West Virginia transfer Mackenzie Pagett won a pair of events Saturday to lead Penn State to a sweep over the Mountaineers.
The margin was similar in both meets, with the women scoring a 189-91 victory and the men prevailing, 193-90.
Pagett, a native of State College who returned home after a year in Morgantown, won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.50, edging teammate Audrey Cohen by .23 seconds. She and Cohen went 1-2 again in the 200, Pagett winning in 2:16.77, the margin this time just .05 seconds.
The Nittany Lions solidified their lead with a sweep of the 50 freestyle. Margaret Markvardt, who had earlier won the 100 backstroke, won in 22.67, with Maura Fluehr and Katie Ketter rounding out the podium. Markvardt also won the 100 free in 49.24, with Fluehr third. Fluehr also won the 100 butterfly.
Morgan Moore swept the 1,000 free and 500 free. Morgan Jenny was second in the latter and third in the 200 free, won by Catherine Meisner. Julia Meisner claimed the 400 individual medley, and Casey Loughlin won the 200 fly. Catherine Meisner, Markvardt, Fluehr and Moore went 3:20.26 to win the 400 free relay to cap it.
Grace Brammer won both diving events. Her 1-meter triumph with a score of 292.65 led a 1-2-3 sweep. Third was Abigail Ekstrom, who was the runner-up to Brammer’s 297.98 on 3-meter.
Delaney Cox got West Virginia on the board by winning the 200 back. Second was Natasha Whittall, the 100 back runner-up. Maddie Smutny was second in the 200 free, third in the 100 fly and third in the 500 free.
On the men’s side, 10 different Nittany Lions monopolized the wins in the 12 individual swimming events. Ryan Anselm pulled out a tight race in the 200 free in 1:37.48, then took home the 500 free. Cooper Morley swept the backstroke events, going 45.79 in the 100 back and 1:44.76 in the 200. Morley also joined Victor Baganha, Toni Slavica and Tylor Kim to go 2:54.18 and capture the 400 free relay.
Baganha’s 19.88 won the 50 free, edging the time of 19.93 by Kim, who won the 100 free in 43.13. Felipe Pinheiro led an early podium sweep in the 100 breast, his 53.25 leading Mariano Lazzerini and Slavica to the wall. Lazzerini won the 200 breast with Pinheiro second.
Matthew Bittner (100 fly), Eduardo Cisternas (1,000 free), Sean Honey (400 IM) and Sam Folger (200 fly) added wins. Hayden Elliott swept diving, scoring 361.43 on 1-meter and 349.50 on 3-meter.