After recently facing some weaker opponents, both the Penn State men's and women's swimming and diving teams responded well against some of the best teams in Div. I this weekend at the Georgia Invitational in Athens, GA.

The men (2-4) finished third with 573.5 points and were behind winner Minnesota (1201.5) and Georgia (1185). The women (4-1) came back from third place after the first two days and finished in second place with 841 points. The Georgia Lady Bulldogs won with 1,445 points.

"It was a mixed bag," Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott said. "There were more positives than negatives."

The weekend was highlighted by several team members making the NCAA "B" cut times and in one instance, the "A" cut time. Cut times are the time standard used by the NCAA.

Senior Kristen Woodring made the "A" cut in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:08.87. This was good enough to earn her a second-place finish in the event.

After the second day of competition, the standings remained the same as after the first day for both the men and women's teams.

The men finished Saturday with 406 points and were behind Minnesota (817) and Georgia (782).

The women finished with 548 points and were behind Georgia (1010.5) and Minnesota (569.5).

The men were again led by Todd Minnier, who captured fourth-place finishes in the 50-meter freestyle and 200-meter freestyle. His time of 1:50.31 in the 200 free was enough to make the "B" cut time.

The Nittany Lions had several divers perform well at this crucial juncture in the season.

"This was a good opportunity for us to see if we were on schedule with our fall training," Penn State diving coach Craig Brown said. "It makes us much more comfortable going into the spring."

Lisa Silvestri had the highest place finish for the Nittany Lion divers after she took second in the 3-meter with a score of 505.3.

Statistically, the men were led by Marc Gastaldo who finished in third in the 3-meter with a score of 507.5.

"We did extremely well and everyone finished in the top-12 in all of the events," Gastaldo said. "The SEC is a really good conference and having this many people diving well is a really good percentage."

Gastaldo finished the 3-meter event behind winner Stewart Smith of Alabama and Todd Avery of Georgia. Brown said Alabama and Georgia are historically known for producing solid divers.

This is the last meet for the Lions until Jan. 10 when they face North Carolina Tar Heels at Chapel Hill, N.C.