The No. 23 men's swimming and diving team ended its dual-meet season the way it started -- with overpowering depth and aggression, cruising to its best record in team history Saturday afternoon in Olean, N.Y.

Penn State methodically cruised past St. Bonaventure, 122-96, to give the Lions a final dual-meet mark of 9-1, and set the stage for Eastern Championships, which is set for Feb. 28-March 2.

Senior Walt Sopp, swimming in his final dual meet at Penn State, said emotion was not a factor in the victory and that the Lions were just looking to finish out the season and get ready for Easterns.

"(The meet) taught me some lessons -- for a lot of guys it was a last reminder of what they have to do for Easterns," Sopp said. "It was a necessary evil for us to get ready to go against the big guys."

Individually, the Lions were able to put several more lifetime-bests on the board. Dave Poorbaugh, who last week hit lifetime-bests in both the 100-meter butterfly and 100 breaststroke, was able to nail a lifetime-best in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:57.13, winning the event by over three seconds.

Adam Carroll, one of 17 swimmers heading to Easterns, hit a lifetime-best in the 100 butterfly, finishing a close second to the Bonnies. Doug Cooper, in the 50 freestyle, Tom Livezey, in the 100 freestyle and Gene Lupinski in the 200 individual medley, also each recorded lifetime-bests.

As a team, Penn State was able to dominate St. Bonaventure for the majority of the meet. The Bonnies short-distance freestylers, as expected, were able to challenge the Lions up front, but Penn State's depth, as it has all season, overwhelmed St. Bonaventure each time it made a run.

Co-captain Phil Meyer, who finished a close second to the Bonnies in the 200 freestyle and third in the 100 backstroke, said the team is satisfied with where its position as Easterns approach, and added that all the swimmers were satisfied with their performance.

The Lions were able to capture first place in both the 200 freestyle and medley relays, while Kirk Skoglund captured first in the 100 backstroke. In the 50 freestyle, Sopp was able to touch out teammate Bill Hurst by .14 seconds for the win.

The diving team, which went without its top three divers, finished second on both the 1- and 3-meter boards. Diving coach Craig Brown, who chose to dive Craig Flanagan and Joe Marsh against the Bonnies, believes the meet helped both divers.

"Craig dove the best he has all year and the meet really helped his experience," Brown said. "(The meet) also really re-focused Marsh on what he has to work on for the postseason, and now we can identify what we need to do."