High hopes of swimmen left unfulfilled at NCAAs

They had high hopes going into the competition. But things didn't go as planned.

The Penn State men's swimming and diving team finished its season this past weekend at the NCAA Championships at Auburn, Ala. The Nittany Lions were expecting a high finish -- they had a mediocre one instead.

Seven members -- four swimmers and three divers -- from the team went to Auburn to represent the Lions in what they thought would be a great place to showcase their talent. Instead of turning heads, they were caught in the current.

- assistant coach Bill Dorkenkott

Strong finishes were expected from the Penn State divers, especially seniors Seth Kane and Drew Jackson. Jackson and Kane set goals to finish somewhere within the top 16 of the 36 participants. Penn State's third diver, sophomore Chris Alderman, was new to the NCAAs and was going to use the meet for future reference.

"It was important for our younger guys to experience it for later," Dorkenkott said.

Of the 36 divers, Kane and Jackson finished a disappointing 22nd and 24th respectively on the 3-meter board. Alderman placed 26th.

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

Jackson, who has qualified for the NCAAs all four years at Penn State, ended his career on a somewhat sour note. Jackson had hoped to finish high enough to achieve honorable mention All-American status, but he had to settle for less.

Penn State swimmers did not do much better.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of junior Dan Okoniewski, senior Greg Stacey, freshman Brain Hostetler and freshman Hogan Thomas was expected to wreak major havoc, but instead finished well short of the school-record time of 1 minute, 19.92 seconds they posted at the Big Ten Championships. The quartet placed 17th with a time of 1:20.82.

All four swimmers from the relay also swam in the 50-yard freestyle. Hostetler posted a strong time for his first trip to NCAAs, 20.40, and Stacey finished with a disappointing time of 20.11.

Stacey had hoped to break the 20-second barrier and land somewhere in the 19-second range but he said he had conditioning problems.

"We weren't physically prepared for the meet," Stacey said.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Okoniewksi, Stacey, Hostetler and Thomas placed 20th with a time of 3:04.30.

Of the four Penn Staters who competed in 100-yard freestyle, Okoniewski posted the best time of 45.46 seconds, which landed him in 57th place overall.

Everything came up a little short for the Lions, who were carrying the momentum gained at the Big Ten Championships in late February.

At the Big Ten Championships, Penn State broke six school records and finished third -- the team's highest finish ever.

The Lions lost their momentum and Stacey summed it up nicely.

"Things didn't go that great for us."