KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Senior Ally McHugh led the Penn State women's swimming & diving team with a second-place finish in the 400 IM on the second day of competition at the Tennessee Invitational hosted by the University of Tennessee Friday in the Jones Aquatic Center. Penn State had a total of seven swimmers in the A-finals and six with NCAA B-cut times.
The Nittany Lions finished the day with 391.5 points, to moving them into third trailing No 10. Tennessee (920.5) and No. 25 Duke (716). Denver (364), Penn (188) and Carson-Newman (98) follow Penn State.
McHugh finished second in the 500 free in 4:09.15, her fastest time of the year so far. McHugh came into the invitational ranked first in the nation for her 400 IM performance at the B1G/ACC Challenge. Sophomore Stephanie Szekely followed suit with a seventh-place performance with a time of 4:18.22. Freshman Marget Shelly shaved four seconds off her preliminary performance to take first in the C-final with a time of 4:24.58.
With her 54.20 finish in the 100 backstroke Maddie Hart claimed fifth in the A-final. Her time pushes her into 10th place in the Penn State women's all-time top times.
Five Nittany Lion women placed in each of the three finals for the 200 freestyle. Sophomore Camryn Barry took fourth in in 1:47.62 to make the NCAA B-cut. Sadie Schumann grabbed the second-place (1:49.76) slot in the B-final followed by Heather MacDougall (1:50.30). In the C-final, Elizabeth Gaspari took first (1:50.78) while Madison Murtagh claimed second (1:51.11).
With their NCAA B-cut performances in the 100 breaststroke A-final, Carly Hart and Olivia Jack both saw top five finishes. Hart placed third with a time of 1:01.58 while Jack came in fifth with a time of 1:01.75.
McHugh, Barry, MacDougall and Schumann all also saw a top-five finish in the 800 free relay coming in fourth with a time of 7:18.58.
On the boards, Penn State saw two top-ten finishes in the 1-meter. Kamryn Umbel finished in eighth place with a score of 245.25, with Christina Crowell following her in ninth place (245).
Next Up
The women's swimming and diving conclude the Tennessee Invitational tomorrow with prelims starting at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Twitter at @PennStateSWIM and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
A fundraiser has been launched to support freshman women's swimmer Nikolette Nolte and her family for costs associated with her leukemia treatment. Any surplus funds will be donated to THON and the Jessie Rees Foundation to help others facing pediatric cancer. Donate at gopsu.info/nikistrong