Swimwomen flounder at Big Ten tournament

The Big Ten swimming and diving championships during the weekend were to serve as the pinnacle of the Penn State women's swimming team's season. Instead, they turned out to be more of a depression.

"It was a rough meet," senior Karen Van Tassel said. "It's frustrating because we wanted to improve on our placement from last year (seventh place), and everyone wanted to end on a better note."

During the three-day competition in Bloomington, Ind., the Lady Lions accumulated 145 points, good enough for last place. And for the first time in over 25 years they did not qualify a single swimmer or diver for the NCAA championships.

As has been the case for the past 10 years, the meet was dominated by Michigan. The Wolverines accumulated 708 points and won their 10th straight Big Ten title.

For the Lady Lions the competition was one filled with frustration and unfulfilled expectations. But perhaps no one took the finish harder than Penn State coach Bob Krimmel.

"Obviously, I did not do a very good job of preparing the kids to go and compete, so I've got to shoulder that responsibility," he said. "I didn't do my job, and as a result, the kids didn't get the job done."

And while the competition was not one with many highlights for the Lady Lions, it did give them some encouragement for the future. This encouragement came from the fact most of their top performances were handed in by underclassmen.

The Lady Lions were led by junior Liz Rossi's seventh-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. The only other Penn State finisher in that event was freshman Katie Collins, who finished 13th.

In the 200-yard breaststroke the Lady Lions' youth parade continued, as freshman Sarah Jay finished 12th. Again, only one other Penn State swimmer finished in the top 16, as senior Kim Kephart came in 15th.

Then in the 400-yard freestyle relay finals the Penn State team of seniors Van Tassel and Wendy Rowe, junior Carmen Kondra and sophomore Arianne Adams finished in eighth place.

Adding to the disappointment and shock for the Lady Lions was, at least at the outset, that things had gone well for them. After the first night of competition on Thursday they were in eighth place and only 20 points behind sixth place.

"I thought we were going to be pretty solid the next day," Krimmel said. "But then when that next day came and there we sat in 11th combined with everything that unfolded on Friday, I would say we had a shocked group come Saturday."

And even as his team was losing, Krimmel was reminded of what is truly important in life.

He said as he was sitting there watching the events he saw a swimmer from the Illinois who, at this time last year, was diagnosed with cancer.

"There she is at the meet just fighting for life and sometimes when you see that it puts things into perspective," he said. "The reality of life is that if this loss is the worst thing to happen to you in life then you have had a pretty good life."