The Big Ten women's swimming season is a test of will and a war of attrition.

Last weekend, the No. 18 Nittany Lions found out just how tough it is to stay consistent from week to week, or even day to day, as they split their two Big Ten road meets with a win at Michigan and a close loss at Northwestern.

Penn State (4-3, 1-1) traveled to Ann Arbor on Friday evening for a meeting with the No. 17 Wolverines (0-4, 0-2). After somewhat of a slow start, the Lions reeled off four straight events.

Freshman Deirdre Dlugonski and sophomore Corrie Clark got things started in the right direction. Dlugonski took both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle, while Clark took the 200-yard individual medley, followed by the 200-yard butterfly.

These two weren't the only Lions with exceptional performances on a chilly early evening up north, however. Penn State finished with two other first place finishes. Sophomore Kristen Woodring won the 200-yard breaststroke. Finally, to wrap up the meet, the relay team of Dlugonski, freshman Larissa Kavchok, senior Piper Chamberlin, and senior Lindsay Fraschilla helped the Lions take the 400-yard freestyle relay. With their six first place finishes, Penn State took the meet by a score of 129-114.

"We swam very well against Michigan," Woodring said. "We haven't beaten Michigan recently, so it was easy to get up for that meet. Everyone was very pumped."

However, as the Big Ten season often dictates, the second meet of a back-to-back weekend was in order. Penn State went from Ann Arbor to Evanston, Ill., to take on No. 16 Northwestern on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats had not been involved in a meet since a non-conference dual meet a week earlier.

The extra time off certainly didn't hurt Northwestern, but the second meet in as many days may have affected the Nittany Lions, as the Wildcats pulled out a tight meet at the very end, 151.50-148.50.

"Their time away definitely helped them, in addition to them having their senior day (on Saturday)," Woodring said.

The Lions almost pulled off consecutive Big Ten wins, as Penn State took a four-point lead into the final relay of the day, the 200-yard freestyle relay. Although the Lions swam well, Northwestern (4-2-1, 2-1-1) was just a bit better, taking the relay by under five tenths of a second and securing their second conference victory.

"Of course we wanted to win both meets, but even though we didn't, we still took something from both of them," Woodring said. "We were physically and mentally tired on that second day after a five-hour bus ride."

By no means was this a meet without its bright spots for Penn State though. The Lions won seven events, and Dlugonski took two events herself. For the second straight day, she won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events.

Freshman Erin Mulshenock won the 200-yard individual medley and placed second in the 200-yard backstroke. In addition, the team of Clark, Woodring, Chamberlin, and freshman Jen Eberst combined to win the 200-yard medley relay.

"We swam really well for having had a meet the day before at Michigan. Northwestern didn't have a meet the day earlier like we did," Mulshenock said. "Overall, I thought we all swam well."