vs. Pittsburgh
noon today
at Ernest B. McCoy Natatorium

With three meets left in the regular season for the Penn State men's swimming and diving team, the focus is on the Big Ten championships and NCAA championships.

This weekend the Nittany Lions (2-5) host No. 17 Pittsburgh (8-1) in a dual meet.

"We're not really doing anything different for the meet," Penn State men's swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott said.

"One of the things we do with dual meets in the season is to gauge where we are in terms of the championships and we're not going to deviate from our plan."

Dorenkott said the majority of teams are similar in that they are focused on the future and said in a perfect world it would be possible to have it both ways.

This is the second meet after the departure of swimmer Willie Gordon, who quit shortly before the start of winter break. Gordon was having his best season until he decided to focus on his academics.

The Lions will be looking for others to fill the void and replace Gordon's production.

"Short term it affects us scoring wise," Penn State men's swimming assistant coach John Hargis said. "But long term I think we're better off. Willie was ready to move on."

The Panthers, are coming off a dominating two-day meet last weekend in which they defeated Notre Dame (228-123), Maryland (258-93) and Villanova (298-49).

Penn State is 0-5 this season in meets when matched against ranked opponents.

This is the highest ranked opponent they've faced, since losing 152-136 to then-No. 14 Washington.

-- By Josh Kowalkowski