Swimmen dive into Big Tens

All of their laps in the pool, all of their 6 a.m. practices and all their hard work now come down to this.

After a two-week break from competitive meets, the Penn State men's swimming and diving team (8-2, 3-2 Big Ten) is competing in the 1998 Big Ten Championships at noon today in Minneapolis. The 20-event competition will last three days, culminating on Saturday evening, and will consist of preliminaries and finals. The top 16 qualifiers from the prelims advance to the 7 p.m. finals.

Penn State assistant coach Bill Dorenkott said the team has been practicing well lately and has no injuries or illnesses to report. He said the team is definitely excited to begin its postseason.

Big Ten swimming and diving has fierce competition, so the Lions must be in top form if they plan on having a productive meet. The top two teams in the conference -- Michigan and Minnesota -- are expected to reign supreme throughout the three-day competition. Besides these two tops dogs, no other team really stands out from the rest. Realistically, the Lions could finish as high as third place or end up as low as eighth.

"It's going to come down to who shows up ready to perform," Dorenkott said.

Since the competition between the bottom nine teams is expected to be vacuum-tight, the Lions have honed their workouts.

"We have been focusing on our attention to detail," Dorenkott said. "It really matters in meets like this."

Dorenkott added the Lions' biggest advantage going into the championships is their consistency and, not surprisingly, their attention to detail.

The swimmers agree with their coach.

"We're making sure everything is just right," sophomore Robert Balazs said. "It needs to be this time of year."

The Lions also have something else in their corner that could prove to be the difference between a strong finish or a weak submission. It's their secret weapon -- the divers.

Penn State divers have dominated the Big Ten all season, and the postseason should be no different. In tight competitions like this one is expected to be, the points divers earn will be extremely valuable. The Lions feel those points will come in handy.

"Since we have one of the best diving programs in the country, we should benefit from their performance," Dorenkott said.

Another advantage for the Lions will be their well-rounded attack. The Lions send at least one excellent swimmer into every event and essentially have no weak events. Also, no one swimmer stands out from the rest and virtually every swimmer or diver performs up to expectations.

"We have no all-stars on our team," Dorenkott said. "Our guys are very equal to each other."

Despite Dorenkott's claim, some swimmers and divers have been performing like all-stars of late.

Senior diver Seth Kane is on top of his diving game and could land a finish among the top three divers in the conference. Senior swimmers Greg Stacey and David Boardman have been practicing well recently and are expected to finish their swimming careers with a bang.

It all comes down to this -- how the Lions perform today and this weekend will determine whether or not all those early morning laps were worth it.