ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Penn State women's swimming & diving competes at the 2023 Big Ten Championships hosted by the University of Michigan Wednesday through Saturday at Canham Natatorium.
Coverage:
The four-day meet begins Wednesday at 5 p.m. with relay finals and continues Thursday through Saturday with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m. A championship stream can be accessed via B1G+, live stats are also available.
The Meet:
The Nittany Lions face some of the best squads in the country. In February, the CSCAA listed five conference teams in the top-25 rankings. Ohio State leads the Big Ten at No. 5, followed by No. 8 Indiana, No. 16 Michigan, No. 20 Northwestern and No. 21 Wisconsin.
The Nittany Lions:
Penn State travels to Ann Arbor with several top-10 record holders.
Graduate student Olivia Jack leads the Nittany Lions in the 100 Breast and 50 Free, holding the program's third-fastest (1:00.02) and seventh-fastest (22.49) times.
Only 0.01 seconds separate junior Cat Stanford and senior Abbie Amdor in the 100 Free - Stanford's 49.15 places her fifth and Amdor's 49.16, sixth.
Senior Emma Harvey's 53.08 100 Back and 53.36 100 Fly earn her seventh and sixth spots on Penn State's top-10 timesheets.
Standout freshman Catherine Meisner's performance in the 200 Free (1:46.17) earlier this year rockets her to fourth.
On the boards, graduate student Daphne Wils and senior captain Wei Wei lead the team with record-setting performances in each of diving's events. Wils broke both the 1-Meter (330.90) and 3-Meter (356.55) records against Army while Wei took the Platform's (240.80) against Brown and Bowling Green.
The 2022-23 Season:
The Nittany Lions faced eight teams and swam in the NC State Invitational this season.
The women earned victories against Navy (202.5-97.5), Boston College (217-82), Pitt (196-157), West Virginia (208-92), Army (229-68) and Villanova (183-105) and fell to Notre Dame (166-187) and Virginia Tech (140-155).
At NC State's mid-season event, Penn State took fourth with 1,158 points.
B1G Championship History:
Penn State has claimed three Big Ten women's swimming championships (2002, 2005, 2006) and 43 individual titles since first competing in 1992.
The Nittany Lions finished last year's meet with 396 points, 26 individual top-24 finishes, 15 NCAA B Cuts and 10 program top-10 performances while racing at the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center in Wisconsin.
Jack, Harvey and graduates Marie Schobel and Maddie Cooke swam to a school record in the 200 Medley relay (1:36.79).
Jack also placed 15th in the 50 free, setting the program's seventh-fastest time (22.49) and 11th in the 100 Breast with another program top-10 (6th - 1:00.68).
Amdor and Stanford took 15th (49.39) and 19th (49.44) in the 100 Free.
Notably, graduate Marie Schobel placed fifth in the 200 back, swimming the Nittany Lion's third fastest recorded time (1:54.37), and sixth in the 100 back (52.48)
Schedule:
A succession of prelims and finals sessions follow the meet's opening evening of swimming at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Wednesday, Feb. 15 – RELAYS: 5 p.m.
200 Medley Relay
800 Free Relay
Thursday, Feb. 16 – PRELIMS: 10 a.m.
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
1-Meter Dive
Thursday, Feb. 16 – FINALS: 5 p.m.
1-Meter Dive
500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
400 Medley Relay
Friday, Feb. 17 – PRELIMS: 10 a.m.
100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
3-Meter Dive
Friday, Feb. 17 – FINALS: 5 p.m.
3-Meter Dive
100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
200 Free Relay
Saturday, Feb. 18 – PRELIMS: 10 a.m.
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
Platform Dive
1650 Free *all but last heat
Saturday, Feb. 18 – FINALS: 5 p.m.
Platform Dive
1650 Free *final heat
200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
400 Free Relay
Keep up with Penn State swimming and diving at the Big Ten's conference championships by following the team on Instagram (@PennStateSwimDive), Twitter (@PennStateSWIM) and Facebook (Penn State Swimming & Diving).
