For the seven graduating seniors on the men's swimming and diving team, Saturday was a very special day.

In front of a large crowd of family and friends Saturday afternoon at McCoy Natatorium, seniors Jeff Eagles, Bart Kimble, Joe Marsh, Jack Moss, Paul Prettitore, Walt Sopp and Steve Zamborsky were each honored and given a blue "S" blanket in an emotional ceremony which has become tradition at Penn State.

Running on that emotion, the Lions proceeded to easily blow by LaSalle, 146-97. The win raises Penn State's dual meet record to a perfect 7-0 this season, while the loss drops the Explorers to 7-2.

"We had a lot of guys in off events and we swam tough when we had to," Coach Peter Brown said. "We did a decent job -- considering we were beaten up after a tough week of work."

For the seventh time this season, Penn State used its top-line swimmers for strength on the front line, then countered with depth across the board.

Senior co-captain Walt Sopp, swimming in his last home meet as a Lion, swam away from the field in the 200-meter freestyle, capturing first place with a time of 1:43.83, almost a full second ahead of teammate Nick Boyce.

"I like the fact that (the ceremony) was quiet," Sopp said. "I'm real happy with the way I've swam and it was nice to go out like this and win."

Right from the first event, the 200 medley relay, the Lions set a tone for the meet. The team of Thad Davis, James Sloat, Sopp and Adam Carroll captured first in the race with a time of 1:35.15, .05 seconds ahead of the Explorers. In the 200 freestyle relay, Penn State knocked LaSalle out, finishing first, second and third.

Junior co-captain Phil Meyer, who swam long distance for more work, finished strong in the 1650 freestyle behind LaSalle distance swimmer and State College product, Matt Hettche. Meyer attributed the team's great success to the emotion of the day.

"We really wanted to perform well because it was (the seniors) last home meet," Meyer said. "We wanted to get them out of here with a bang."

Sopp, who has led his team to a 28-9 record in four years, felt the key to the victory was the same as it has been all season.

"Our depth allows us to negate a team that only has a few superstars," he said. "(Depth) is really a large part of our success."

As a team the Lions captured first in four individual events and both relay events, making strong second- and third-place finishes in the events they did not win.

The diving team, which honored two of its team leaders, Jeff Eagles and Steve Zamborsky, dove superbly after a tough meet last week in Virginia. The divers put together their strongest showing of the year, placing first, second and third on both boards.

On the 1-meter board, Zamborsky scored 291.30 points, almost 20 points ahead of teammate Jeff Eagles. On the 3-meter board, Jeff Eagles got the win, scoring 288.18. Freshman Chris Devine placed second with a 283.73.

The main attraction of the meet, however, was the final appearance for seven of Penn State's most illustrious swimmers.

"(The seniors) have provided the program with consistency all four years they've been here," Brown said. "They've really done a great job."