Instead of cannons bursting it ended more like a popgun going off. Lofty expectations gave way to disappointment.

However, one has to understand how far the Penn State women's swimming and diving team has really come to understand that a 21st place finish at the NCAA Championships isn't all that disappointing.

"Early on in the season our goals were to win Big Tens and finish top eight at the NCAAs," senior Piper Chamberlin said. "It's frustrating that we didn't reach our goals but in the future we know our program is going to improve."

Sophomore Sally Anderson matched her teammate's sentiments.

"We had high expectations but we're not disappointed because it was an incredibly fast meet," she said.

Following their best season in team history, one that witnessed their first ever Big Ten crown, the Nittany Lions hoped to culminate what had been a steady rise to prominence with a strong showing at the NCAAs.

Five years ago the team wasn't even on the radar, finishing in last place in the Big Ten.

Steadily, however, Penn State improved, persevered and ultimately reached the summit.

The team went into this weekend's NCAA Championships looking to continue that growth.

"We felt we had the possibility of breaking into the top 10," Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott said.

The team sent a school record 12 swimmers to the Championships.

The list included Chamberlin, juniors Katie Bruzda, Katie Hostetler and Kristen Weinhold along with sophomores Anderson, Kristen Woodring and Corrie Clark and freshman Dieirdre Dlugonski.

All of the these swimmers garnered honorable-mention All-American status except Clark who was named first-team All-American following her seventh place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The team entered the meet, held at the University of Texas, ranked No. 13 and started off in impressive fashion.

Anderson set a school record in the 500-yard freestyle and finished 13th overall. The 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard medley relay teams also had strong showings, with both finishing in 10th place.

The Achilles heel for the Lions proved to be day two of the competition. The team suffered two set-backs when the 200-yard medley relay team and freshman Courtney Stanchock were both disqualified for jumping the blocks and false starting.

"We were just a little flat," Dorenkott said. "We didn't swim that bad we just had a few bad breaks."

Chamberlin said although the day was below par it made the team that much more focused for the final day of competition.

"It was a frustrating day but it really made us look forward to Saturday," she said.

The Lions finished with a total team score of 46 points.

Although it wasn't able to match its 11th place finish of a year ago, the team looks to use this as motivation for next season.

Penn State is returning all but seven swimmers and the graduating Chamberlin is the only member of the team sent to the NCAAs that won't be back.

For her this meet held special importance.

"It's bittersweet," she said. "I've had the most incredible experience with this team and it was a total team effort.

"Each year I feel our team gets closer and closer and no matter how the NCAAs turned out it's been an amazing year."