Swimmen riding high into nationals

By ANTHONY MILLER
Collegian Staff Writer

Still riding high after capturing its first-ever Big Ten title on Feb. 27, the Penn State men's swimming and diving team now sets its sights on this weekend's race for the NCAA Championship.

The No. 15 Nittany Lions will have a school-record 12 participants (11 swimmers and one diver) in the three-day meet beginning this afternoon and lasting through Saturday. They hope the momentum and confidence gained in winning the conference title will carry over into the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis -- the site of this year's event.

Coach Peter Brown instructed his team to be confident and not worry about how everything will turn out.

"I tell them, 'You've earned the right to be there. Enjoy it and come to compete and race. If you have the correct attitude and the correct approach, things will fall into place,' " he said.

The Lions are led by their five relay teams, which, for the first time in school history, all qualified to compete. Each relay swimmer is also eligible to swim in up to three events in which he posted a time at or above the 'B' cutoff level.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team comprised of the lone Lions senior qualifier, Dan Okoniewski, along with Holden Comeau, Brian Hostetler and Bob Molettiere, earned a seventh seed in the NCAA contest after setting a school record of 1:19.11 and winning the race at the Big Ten Championships. The 400-yard freestyle relay team consisting of the same four members earned an 11th seed after setting a school record of 2:57.38 and finishing second at Big Tens.

The 200-yard medley relay team comprised of Brian McKenna, Gavin Carscallen, Matt Teeter and Hostetler is seeded ninth. It also set a new school mark of 1:28.17 while finishing second at the Big Ten contest. The 400-yard medley relay team of Josh Weaver, Teeter, Carscallen and Hostetler and the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Martin Shierhorn, Kevin Smith, John Retrum and Comeau also qualified for the national meet.

Freshman diver Steve Bohner will represent the Lions in both the one- and three-meter diving events after winning the one-meter title at the NCAA Zone Qualifier. He did not expect to qualify for the NCAA Championships in his initial collegiate season, but said he will enjoy the experience and use it as something to shoot for in the future.

Individually, Comeau, Weaver and Hostetler will compete in three events each while Okoniewski, Teeter, Molettiere and Carscallen will compete in two.

Despite being one of the biggest meets in most of the Lions' careers, they are trying to look at it as just another race. They do not want to put any extra pressure on themselves.

"You have to approach it as if it's just another race," Weaver said. "You can't let the fact that it's the NCAA Championships get in the way."

Comeau said because the Lions are sending so many swimmers to the meet, it gives them a chance to put up solid scores and compete with the best teams in the nation.

"We don't want to get carried away," Comeau said. "We've got to swim as fast as we can go. If we do, our times are comparable to anybody in the country."