Breaking seven school records seems like enough to pace a team to a championship run. However, this was not the case for the men's swimming and diving team last weekend.

The No. 20 Nittany Lions placed third, behind Minnesota and Michigan, in the Big Ten Championships held last weekend in Bloomington, Ind. This was the third season in a row that Penn State placed third and the fifth consecutive top five finish for the team. Minnesota won their second straight title with a score of 711.5, followed by Michigan with 636.5 and Penn State with 442.5, and Wisconsin and Indiana rounding out the top five.

Paced by two individual titles from junior Eugene Botes and two first-place finishes by a relay team, the team was unable to overcome the strength of the Gophers and Wolverines. Head coach Bill Dorenkott was still pleased with both team and individual performances throughout the weekend.

"Team wise, (third place) is probably the best we could've expected," he said. "Michigan and Minnesota are probably a little ahead of us depth wise, but we put as many kids on the all-conference team as anyone else."

The team's strongest showing came on the third and final day of competition. Three school records were broken en route to winning two events. Botes broke the meet, pool and school record with a time of 43.30 in the 100-yard freestyle. Having only gained second place in the 100-yard butterfly the day before, Botes was happy with this victory. The silver in the 100-yard butterfly was disappointing after getting gold last year, he said, but the gold in the 100-yard freestyle was satisfying.

In the final event of the weekend, the 400-yard freestyle relay team continued the dominance they have shown all season. The team of Bob Molettiere, Botes, Todd Minnier and Martin Schierhorn set a meet, pool and school record in defending their title.

Also broken on the final day was the 1650-yard freestyle school record by Paul Kirk.

Kirk placed sixth and also set a NCAA provisional time.

Senior captain Molettiere gained two other titles — in the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay — along with his 400-yard freestyle gold.

He broke a school and pool record in gaining his second straight title in the 50-yard freestyle. His stiffest competition came from Botes who finished second. Molettiere gave a lot of credit to the strong top finishes of his teammates.

"I am more excited that we finished 1-2 (in the 50-yard freestyle) than that I finished first," he said.

"Any time you finish in the top two spots with a teammate it is a great accomplishment."

The next challenge facing the Nittany Lions comes in the form of the NCAA Championships set to run March 28 to 30 in Athens, GA. Both Molettiere and Dorenkott are confident in the team's abilities heading into NCAA's.

"We need to carry over our expectations from the conference season to the national season," said Dorenkott. "We've had the tendency to let down mentally in the four weeks leading up to NCAA's, but we have the talent, background and confidence to compete."