Going into the second day of competition at the Big Ten women's swimming and diving championships, Penn State's goal was to remain within striking distance going into the weekend stoke events.

With a strong performance by the Nittany Lions' divers, Penn State held down fourth place overall and sits only 27 points behind meet-leader Michigan, which has 213 points, heading into today's events.

"The meet is wide open for everybody right now," said Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott. "There are a number of teams that have a legitimate shot to win."

On an evening that featured some of Penn State's weakest events, the Lions managed to keep pace with an unspectacular but extremely consistent performance.

Five swimmers booked points for the Penn State on the evening, and senior Sally Anderson collected the Lions highest finish, placing a solid sixth in the 500-freestyle.

"It was a good, steady day," Dorenkott said. "No one swam unbelievably well, or poorly, but the divers really stepped up for us tonight."

The divers were led by sophomore diver Lisa Silvestri, who placed second on the one-meter board. Silvestri briefly set a pool record of 304.75 with her first dive of the day only to watch it fall only hours later to event winner Carrie McCambridge.

Senior Maggie O'Brien, sophomore Alison Riccobono and junior Corey Pagnotta also collected points for the Lions on the board, placing tenth, thirteenth and fifteenth, respectively.

With former Big Ten individual champions Amberle Biederman and Kristen Woodring still to swim in the coming days, yesterday's performance puts Penn State in prime position to make a run at their second Big Ten team title in three years.

"We are a second and third day team," Dorenkott said. "We are actually a few points ahead of where I thought we'd be at this point. I'm really happy with our position right now."

Wisconsin is currently in second place with 199 points, and Indiana is third with 187.