Emotions were already running high before the meet started, but a win made the afternoon that much better for the Nittany Lions.

The Penn State men's swimming and diving team finished its home dual meet portion of this season on Saturday afternoon by beating Rutgers 130-113 on Senior Day at the McCoy Natatorium.

"I think we were smarter from a coaching perspective in giving ourselves more time to do some of the festivities," Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott said, about changing the meet time from noon to one. "It was an emotional day, but we also realized that we had a job to do."

The Lions (3-6) had lost their previous two meets, but they seem to be very slowly finding their momentum as they head into the Big Ten championships, which is only three weeks away.

Sophomore Shawn McLin, who took first in the 200-yard backstroke (1:50.86), said the team had been improving over the past weeks despite its loses.

"We just have to stay focused and keep it up," McLin said. "Each practice is getting harder and harder because we just want to go to the big meet."

Senior Todd Minnier shined once again winning the 200-yard freestyle (1:37.67) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:31.84).

"We're definitely honing in on the end of the season by getting all the little things down like starts and turns and taking races out fast," Minnier said.

Nate Torok took home a big victory in the 200-yard individual medley (1:53.31), Dan Velez won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:04.58) and diver Marc Gastaldo led the Lion divers by winning the 3-meter board with a score of 321.75.

"Adam [Pierce] gets better almost every week, Mike [Alderman] has really resolved a lot of technical problems, like head position issues and Gastaldo is very consistent," Penn State diving coach Craig Brown said. "He can be right there on any given day."

He said the team strength trained a little harder this week and as a result, the players' recovery rates were not as good for the meet.

"We put the kids in a position where consistency could be in question and you do that so mentally you can have a little adversity there," Brown said. "And you have to make some really positive changes when you're not physically right and mentally completely into it."

Over the next few weeks Brown said that he would continue to build upon the theme of maintaining consistency before the team goes to the Big Ten championships.