Monday, Feb. 10, 1997

Swimwomen finish strong

By DON WAGNER
Collegian Sports Writer

Saturday was a day of lasts for the No. 25 Penn State women's swimming team. It was the last home meet for six seniors, it was the last home meet of the season for the team, and opponents Brown and Villanova didn't last very long.

Penn State's Arianne Adams swims in the 200-yard butterfly during the Lions dual meet Saturday in the Natatorium. Adams placed second in the event and Penn State defeated Brown, 182-117, and Villanova, 188-98. (Collegian Photo/David S. Spence - click for full size image)

Going into the meet, if one team had a chance to last against Penn State (8-4), it would have been Brown. The Bears were 7-3 all-time against the Lady Lions and seemed to have had their number recently. But the only number they had on Saturday was the losing end of a 182-117 score.

"I thought it would be closer," junior Elissa Bellairs said. "I really don't know why it wasn't."

Villanova, on the other hand, had never beaten the Lady Lions and weren't about to start Saturday, as the Wildcats lost, 188-98.

Swimming on the day that honored them, the Penn State seniors went out in style. Against Brown, senior tri-captain Karen Van Tassel won four different events. She helped the 200-medley and 400-yard relay teams to first-place finishes as well as taking first in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.

It seemed, at least at the beginning of the meet, that the Bears would hang with the Lady Lions. After Van Tassel's win in the first event of the day, the 200-medley relay, Brown came back to win the very next event. But then Penn State reeled off three straight wins and pulled away. From that point on the meet was never in much doubt as the Lady Lions kept distancing themselves from the Bears.

"We thought Brown would be tough," Kim Kephart said.

Against Villanova, Kephart continued the theme of senior day going by winning twice, in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. The Wildcats provided little resistance to the Lady Lions.

After Penn State won the first five meets of the day and jumped out to a 52-point lead, Villanova had a tough time getting into the swing of things. In fact, the Wildcats never did find their rhythm, as Penn State kept piling on the points and walked away with the meet.

For Brown and Villanova it turned out to be a very long day at the McCoy Natatorium. And for different reasons, the Lady Lion swimmers also had a very long day. For the first time in several years they swam side by side their male counterparts, making the meets much longer than usual.

And since Lady Lions won each meet convincingly, getting motivated for some of the meets at the end of the day was often difficult.

"By the time we went up there for the last relay it was really hard to get up and get motivated for it," Bellairs said.

But the extra fan support provided by the presence of the men's team also made a long day a little more bearable.

"It was definitely fun," Kephart said. "You had more support. It was like you had your own little cheering section."