The Penn State women's swimming and diving team began to wrap up one of the best seasons in the storied history of the program on Saturday afternoon.

Forgive them if they are not particularly excited.

"I told the girls on the first day of practice that we needed to shift our focus to the national level this year," Penn State coach Bill Dorenkott. "Its time to start gearing up to get after it."

With their 166-76 win against previously unbeaten Rutgers (8-1) on senior day at the McCoy Natatorium, the No. 12 Nittany Lions improved their record on the season to 8-1 and created some serious momentum heading in to the Big Ten tournament.

Unfortunately for the Lions, there is no guarantee that their regular season success will carry over into the post season, and this is a fact of which the team's upperclassmen are well aware.

In 2001-02 the Nittany Lions finished the regular season at a mediocre 4-3 but still captured the first Big Ten title in the program's history.

In 2002-03 the team went to Big Ten tournament with a gaudy 7-2 record only to finish a disappointing third.

Nevertheless, the team looks confident and focused heading into post season competition, which begins in two weeks.

"This is definitely the most focused team I have been on in my four years here," senior Sally Anderson said. "From the first day of practice we have all had the same goals and been on the same page."

Saturday afternoon, this focus was on display as the Lions methodically picked apart an overmatched Rutgers team despite juggling the lineup in many key areas.

Penn State set the tone for the meet in the very first event of the day by finishing first and second in the 400-medley relay.

In this event, Dorenkott split up the usual number one team and the change paid off handsomely.

"One of the things that is tough about having a schedule like ours is that the top girls have to bring it every meet," he said. "Today we got to give everyone a bit of a mental break."

The Lions never looked back after the quick start and went on to win nine of final 11 events, including the one-meter and three-meter boards. It was this the second week in a row that a Lions' swimmer managed to grab the top spot in both events, this time with the honors going to sophomore Lisa Silvestri.

The win leaves Penn State looking at weeks of hard work to prepare for the Big Ten Championships held on the campus of Minnesota, but with the post season being its focus all along, the team seems ready to do whatever necessary to capture their second Big Ten crown in three years.

As the fans straggled out of the balcony and the seniors prepared to leave McCoy Natatorium after a win for the final time, Dorenkott called them together to repeat the theme of the day, "Tomorrow is February first," he said. "Its time to get to work."