vs. Indiana & Pittsburgh
6 today, 9:30 a.m.Saturday
at McCoy Natorium

As the Big Ten Women's swimming dual meet season wraps up, two of the conference's best, meet this weekend in State College.

The No. 13 Nittany Lions square off against No. 12 Indiana and unranked Pittsburgh in a meet of great significance both nationally and within the Big Ten.

Penn State will be looking to regain competitive form, returning to action following a two-week hiatus. The Lions have competed only once so far in 2004, a victory against No. 14 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, on Jan. 10.

Freshman distance swimmer Margy Keefe's performance against the Tar Heels earned her conference swimmer of the week accolades, and against an Indiana team that is weak in the distance events, Keefe could have another big weekend.

Penn State will also be counting on a strong contribution from its 200-medley relay team of Sarah Haupt, Amberle Biederman, Kristen Woodring and Dierdre Dlugonski. The four have been consistently strong all season both as a team as well as in their individual events.

Indiana enters the meet coming off a trouncing of a strong Purdue team that has been on the fringes of the top 25 all season.

The Hoosiers are paced by their strong senior class led by the versatile Brooke Taflinger and are extremely strong in the individual medley events.

Indiana coach Dorsey Tierney said that she foresees a competitive meet.

"The relays will be key," Tierney said. "Our teams match up pretty well in that area and it should be a lot of fun."

-- By Justin Kunkle