With the Eastern Championships three weeks away, the men's swimming and diving team still has some unfinished business to take care of.

At 2 tomorrow afternoon, Penn State, ranked 23rd in the nation, travels to face one of the best Division II teams in the country, Shippensburg.

The Red Raiders (17-2), currently ranked 3rd in the nation among Division II schools, will have their hands full against the Lion swimmers, who on paper hold the upper hand from top to bottom.

Penn State (7-1) heads to Shippensburg after suffering its first loss of the season last weekend at Ohio State.

"(The Shippensburg meet) is designed as a breather in our schedule and we want to do two things," Coach Peter Brown said. "The 14 guys who aren't going to Easterns will be shaving and I'm hoping they can pop some lifetime bests; we also want the guys who are going to swim other events to get ready."

Penn State will be swimming a lineup similar to the one they swam against LaSalle two weeks ago.

Nick Boyce, who swam a lifetime-best time in the 100-meter backstroke last weekend against Ohio State, will be swimming in the 100 butterfly and the 200 medley relay tomorrow. Boyce, who will be challenged up front by Red Raider butterflyer Steve Meissner, said the team is using these last two meets as a prep for Easterns.

"We're doing our last bit of work to get ready," Boyce said. "Right now my mind is just on Easterns."

Shippensburg, coached by Penn State alumnus Don Miller, is looking to challenge up front, but lacks the depth needed to seriously challenge Penn State.

"Our guys are always excited to face Penn State and we always get fantastic swims out of our guys against them," Miller said. "The challenge really pushes them to the limit."

The diving team, after two straight weeks of superb diving, will be unopposed by the Red Raiders.

Shippensburg, which dove at the Penn State Diving Invitational in October, has lost all three of its divers to either injury or personal reasons.

Although the divers will face no competition, diving coach Craig Brown said the meet will give the divers a chance to get prepared for the postseason.

"We're working on fundamentals and trying to knock out some nagging problems," Brown said. "We're trying to work our way right into NCAAs and this will give us a good chance to get the glitches out."

Steve Zamborsky, Chris Devine, Jeff Eagles and Joe Marsh are all headed to Easterns for the Lions. Devine and Eagles also have made the cut for the pre-qualifying meet for NCAAs on both the 1- and 3-meter board while Zamborsky has qualified on the 1-meter. The pre-qualifying meet for NCAAs will be held March 15-16.