Two meets, two outcomes, and one common conclusion.

According to its coaching staff, the Penn State women's swimming and diving team, which split into two squads this weekend to compete in the Nittany Lion Invitational and the U.S. Open, still needs some work.

"What (head coach Bill Dorenkott) and I look for right now are skills, being tough, and being smart about how you swim the race," assistant coach Sarah Duttera said. "If you accomplish those now, you'll be all right in the end."

The Lady Lions easily won the Invitational under the guidance of Duttera, accumulating 1,182.5 points over the three-day competition at the McCoy Natatorium.

Cornell came in second with 754, Maryland-Baltimore County finished third with 688.5, and St. Bonaventure was fourth with 590.

The meet followed a schedule that consisted of morning preliminaries and evening finals, with Penn State winning 16 of 20 events.

Christina Stocki led the Lady Lions, taking first-place in the 200-yard freestyle, 200 backstroke, and as part of the 200 medley and 800 freestyle relay teams.

Katie Hostetler captured the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke and was part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team.

Piper Chamberlin recorded victories in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle, and Alecia Kornacki took first in the 500 freestyle and as part of the 800 freestyle relay.

Both Chamberlin and Kornacki were also part of the winning 400 freestyle relay team. In diving, Jaime Jaax won the one-meter and three-meter competitions.

"Overall, the women swam well," Duttera said. "They all did a very good job of racing and getting their hand on the wall.

"The times were about right for this time of year, but some definitely could have been a lot better."

Meanwhile, at Auburn University, Dorenkott led 12 swimmers through the three-day U.S. Open, which featured many of the top collegiate and independent swimmers in the country.

The Penn State swimmers recorded 14 top-25 finishes.

Katie Anderson led the Lady Lions by taking sixth in the 400 freestyle and a seventh in the 800 freestyle.

In the 400 medley relay, the Penn State B team consisting of Katie Bruzda, Kim Fiore, Barb Mulshine, and Kristen Weinhold came in seventh.

However, Duttera said that, while the numbers from both meets may look impressive on paper, she saw many things that need major improvement.

"We need to work on our fitness level," she said. "Just being fit, and our skills are extremely weak.

"Those are the two glaring things that stick out."

Dorenkott saw similar problems at the U.S. Open and pointed out turns, streamlines, breakouts, finishes, and breathing patterns as specific skills needing work.

"The nice thing about a meet like this is you're going to race against some of the best times and best swimmers in the country," he said. "Your weakness are going to stand out.

"One of the keys to improvement is being honest with ourselves in terms of strengths and weaknesses."

Dorenkott said the Lady Lions will study video from the meets to pinpoint individual skills that need work, and this will help put them where they need to be for this point in the season.

"We're just not very disciplined right now, and it's going to burn us," he said.

The Lady Lions have plenty of time to work on whatever needs to be fixed.

This weekend marked the final meets until after the holidays, and the team will resume competition on January 5.

In the meantime, the coaches will use the semester break as a time to intensify training and work at the skills they will need at the Big Ten and NCAA championships at the end of the season.

"We're cranking it up," Duttera said. "We'll pretty much go the whole month of December and part of January at high intensity, working on the basics.

"We'll do what we did before, but at a better pace and a better rate. That will help us out in February and March."

Although they showed the need for more intense workouts and a higher skill level, this weekend's meets also gave Duttera confidence in her team.

She identifies with the academic and athletic stress her student-athletes are feeling as the semester wraps up.

"The important thing for them to remember is this is the hardest time of the year," Duttera said. "They have to keep their heads above the water in terms of training and academics.

"It's tough enough. If they get through this part of the semester, they'll be all right."