MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – Penn State women's swimming is set to compete at the 2021 Big Ten Championships hosted by the University of Minnesota from Tuesday, February 23 through Saturday, February 27 at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The men's and women's diving team will also be competing in their Big Ten Championships this week in West Lafeyette, Indiana hosted by Purdue University.
No spectators will be allowed at any of the three Big Ten swimming & diving championship meets.
SCHEDULE
The event begins at 6 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday evening with relays followed by prelims and finals every day from Wednesday to Saturday.
Tuesday, Feb. 23 – RELAYS at 6 p.m. ET
200 Medley Relay
800 Freestyle Relay
Wednesday, Feb. 24 – PRELIMS at noon ET
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
500 Freestyle
Wednesday, Feb. 24 – FINALS at 7:30 p.m. ET
200 Individual Medley
50 Freestyle
500 Freestyle
400 Medley Relay
Thursday, Feb. 25 – PRELIMS at noon ET
100 Butterfly
400 Individual Medley
200 Freestyle
Thursday, Feb. 25 – FINALS at 7:30 p.m. ET
100 Butterfly
400 Individual Medley
200 Freestyle
Friday, Feb. 26 – PRELIMS at noon ET
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
Friday, Feb. 26 – FINALS at 7:30 p.m. ET
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
200 Freestyle Relay
Saturday, Feb. 27 – PRELIMS at noon ET
100 Freestyle
200 Backstroke
200 Breaststroke
Saturday, Feb. 22 – FINALS at 7:30 p.m. ET
1650 Freestyle (first heat – 5:15 p.m. ET)
100 Freestyle
200 Backstroke
200 Breaststroke
400 Freestyle Relay
COVERAGE
The five-day meet is scheduled to commence with relay finals Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET, and continue Wednesday through Saturday with preliminaries starting at noon ET and finals at 7:30 p.m. ET. All sessions will be streamed live via BTN Plus. All live stats will be available on Sidearm and Meet Mobile.
THE MEET
The Nittany Lions will face some of the toughest competition in the country as six conference teams enter the event as members of the CSCAA Top 25. Northwestern leads the pack ranked at No. 7, followed by No. 9 Michigan, No. 17 Wisconsin, No. 21 Indiana, No. 22 Minnesota and No. 23 Ohio State. Penn State received nine votes to be placed in the same poll.
FREESTYLE
Seniors Maddie Cooke and Elizabeth Gaspari lead the Nittany Lions in the sprint freestyle events. Cooke's persona- best 22.45 time in the 50 free ranks her at sixth-fastest all time for Penn State. Her fastest 50 free this season is 22.78, which is fifth-fastest amongst all Big Ten women. This season, Gaspari swam 23.26 in the 50 free.
In the 100 free, Cooke has the fastest time on the team this season at 50.12, closely followed by Gaspari at 50.19, both of which are NCAA B-Cut times.
Sophomore Abbie Amdor is also a contender in the 100 and 200 free with NCAA B-Cuts in both races. She has the fifth-fastest time in Penn State history in the 100 free (49.16) and seventh-fastest in the 200 free (1:47.12).
Junior Sadie Schumann has shined this past season in the 200 free, swimming the team's fastest time this season (1:48.83), a personal best for the North Carolina native.
Junior Madison Murtagh leads the Nittany Lions in distance freestyle with the team's best time in the 1000 free at 10:02.24. Her personal best is 9:51.95, which she achieved at last year's Big Ten Championships.
BACKSTROKE
Junior Marie Schobel is among the conference leaders in backstroke, currently ranked as third-fastest in the Big Ten this season in the 100 back (52.95) with an NCAA B-Cut time. Her 52.69 personal best time in the 100 back is fourth-fastest all-time for Penn State. Schobel's 200 back time this season is third-fastest in the Big Ten (1:55.75) and her personal best (1:55.06) is third-fastest in Penn State history.
Senior Stephanie Szekely closely trails behind Schobel in the 200 back with a season-best time of 1:57.96 and personal best time of 1:56.73.
BREASTROKE
Cooke and Carly Hart lead the team in breaststroke. Cooke swam a personal best and the team's fastest 100 breast time this season at 1:00.19. This senior meet swim earned her the third-fastest spot in the Big Ten this season.
Senior Hart closely follows Cooke in the 100 breast with her best time this season being 1:01.53 and eighth-fastest in the Big Ten. Her fastest 100 breast time is 1:00.93, achieved at last year's Big Ten Championships.
Hart is the Nittany Lions' fastest 200 breastroker with her season-best time of 2:16.01, and 200 breast personal best time of 2:14.11.
BUTTERFLY
This season, junior Brooke Matthias has led the way in the 100 and 200 fly, swimming 54.10 and 2:01.15 at the Northwestern-Iowa tri-dual meet.
Fellow junior Madison Ledwith closely follows Matthias in the 100 fly with her fastest time this season being 55.26, but her personal best time of 53.30 ranks above Matthias's personal best of 53.67. Both ladies best 100 fly swims have them ranked in Penn State's all-time top time list in the event.
INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Sophomore Margaret Marvardt leads the team in the 200 IM with her season-best time of 2:01.87 and personal best of 1:59.89.
Szekely is Penn State's fastest 400 IMer, with her fastest time this season being 4:18.80 and personal-best 4:16.16.
THIS SEASON
Swimming & diving had a shortened season this year due to COVID-19, so they did not compete in any official meets until last month. Each Big Ten team swam two or three dual and tri-dual meets against Big Ten competition.
Penn State swam their first dual meet at Ohio State in mid-January, followed by a tri-dual meet the weekend after in Chicago against Northwestern and Iowa. Their final regular season meet was at home in McCoy Natatorium in early February against Michigan State, whom the Nittany Lions convincingly defeated.
B1G CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
Penn State has claimed three Big Ten women's swimming championships (2002, 2005, 2006) and 43 individual championships since first competing in 1992.
Penn State finished eighth last year with a total of 517.5 points and eighteen top-16 finishes at 2020 Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. Maddie Hart, now graduated, swam for a school record and fourth place in the 200 back (1:53.37) as one of her three top-eight finishes at meet. She also finished third in the 100 fly (51.80) and sixth in the 100 back (52.78).
The women also broke both the 200 medley and 400 medley relay school records. The team of Cooke, Maddie Hart, Carly Hart, and Schobel swam 1:37.09 in the 200 medley and the team of Amdor, Maddie Hart, Carly Hart, and Schobel swam 3:33.26 in the 400 medley.
Senior Cooke achieved an eighth place finish in the 50 free (22.49). She has since improved her 50 free time to 22.45
Junior Schobel improved all of her top times and climbed to the third-fastest time in Penn State history in the 200 back (1:55.06) and fourth fastest in the 100 back (52.69). Those two swims earned her ninth place in both races.
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State swimming and diving teams during the season. Follow the team on Instagram at @pennstateswimdive, Twitter at @PennStateSWIM and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstateswimminganddiving.
