Lion Swimmen finish season with NCAAs

The Penn State swimming and diving team wrapped up its season Saturday at the NCAA Championships at Auburn, Ga.

After a solid performance by the divers on the 1-meter board, they again competed well on the 3-meter board. Of the 36 divers, senior Seth Kane led the way for Penn State on the higher board by finishing 22nd (471.15 points), followed by senior Drew Jackson in 24th (463.20) and sophomore Chris Alderman in 26th (460.25).

Kane, who placed 13th at the Big Ten Championships in late February on the 3-meter board, was the third-best Big Ten finisher of the competition.

The meet also caps off the careers of both Kane and Jackson, two of the most productive divers in Penn State history. Jackson has qualified for the NCAAs all four years at Penn State.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of junior Dan Okoniewski, senior Greg Stacey and freshmen Brian Hostetler and Hogan Thomas swam well off the school-record time of 1 minute, 19.92 seconds they posted at the Big Ten Championships. They placed 17th with a time of 1:20.82. All four swimmers also swam in the 50-yard freestyle. Hostetler posted the best finish, placing 45th with a time of 20.40 seconds.

After qualifying for the 400-yard freestyle relay because of their time in the 200 relay, Okoniewski, Stacey, Hostetler and Thomas placed 20th with a time of 3:04.30. The four also competed in the 100-yard freestyle individually, with Okoniewksi posting the best time of 45.46 seconds, which landed him in 57th place.

-- by Joshua Rhett Miller