Beginning with tomorrow's 13-event meet against Rutgers, the Penn State men's swimming and diving team will enter its final stretch of the regular season before the Big Ten Championships arrive in late February.

The Nittany Lions (3-1) have not competed since Jan. 7, when they ended their annual Florida training trip with a first place finish at the Matt Gribble Invitational in Naples, Fla.

Tomorrow's meet against the Scarlet Knights at the McCoy Natatorium, the start of which has been moved up from 1 p.m. to 11 a.m. because of an impending snowstorm, will begin three consecutive weekends of dual meets for the Lions.

Following the races this weekend, Penn State will face Missouri and Iowa next weekend before wrapping up its dual meet schedule with a home bout against Ohio State during the weekend of Feb. 5.

"We match up well with our next four opponents," Penn State head coach Bill Dorenkott said.

Tomorrow's dual meet, along with the following two, all lead up the Big Ten Championships, where the Lions will look to be at their best.

"We were pretty whooped last week coming out of our Florida training camp so I expect for us to start gaining some speed and gaining some momentum going into Big Ten's," Dorenkott said. "This weekend will serve as a great racing opportunity against a quality opponent to gauge where we're at in terms of training and speed."

The three-day long Big Ten Championships in February serve as the final meet when the swimmers can qualify to swim in the NCAA Championships, which are these swimmers ultimate goal.

Some swimmers have already picked up provisional "B" cut times for NCAA's during December's Auburn Invitational. However, only a certain number of "B" times are good enough for the NCAA's, which is why Dorenkott says the goal is to get to the Big Ten's and earn an "A" cut time that will guarantee swimmers a chance to swim in the national championships.

One group of swimmers that has picked up a "B" time is the medley relay team, whose members have been alternated throughout the season. This weekend, the foursome of senior Daryl Northrop, senior Patrik Johansson, junior Sean McLin and freshman Kyle Miranda will be swimming in the medley.

The medley team has been mixed and matched all year to find out which group is the fastest and has the best chemistry, but at least one member of this weekend's combination feels that tomorrow will provide the best results the team has seen all season.

"I think we can be the best we've been all year for the relays," said Northrop.

Tomorrow at the McCoy Natatorium, the Lions will find out.