The stands were filled on Saturday at McCoy Natatorium, and not just because the first 300 fans had a chance to win a Microsoft Xbox.

Supporters of the Penn State men's swimming and diving team came to honor four deserving seniors as the team competed against St. Bonaventure in its last home meet of the season. The day belonged to seniors Shawn McLin, Chris Ippoliti, Richard Kornacki and Adam Pierce.

The team was impressive throughout the meet, winning by a final score of 142-89. Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott was pleased to see the seniors come away with a win in their final home meet.

"I'm not sure it could have gone any better in terms of giving our seniors a chance to shine," Dorenkott said. "We had a terrific crowd, so I'm pretty pleased."

The seniors took every opportunity to enjoy their last home meet, performing in front of friends and family members. Teammates showed respect as well, constantly cheering and congratulating their four team leaders.

Ippoliti and McLin captured first place in the 200-yard medley relay along with sophomores Kyle Miranda and Sean Swanepoel. McLin also took first place in the 100 freestyle, and Ippoliti won the 100 butterfly. Freshmen Ryan DeWeese, Pat Schirk, and Spencer Maglich also swam well, winning the 1,000 freestyle, the 200 freestyle and the 50 freestyle, respectively.

As for the diving events, Pierce, who has had an outstanding season and career, came in first place in the 1-meter diving event. Kornacki, who is a co-captain along with Ippoliti, also swam well on the day. After the meet, the senior had mixed emotions.

"It's a bittersweet moment," Kornacki said. "I've made it through the four years, and I did what I needed to do and all that, but it's also kind of sad that I'm not going to be competing here anymore."

Kornacki and the other seniors have contributed greatly to the swimming program during their careers. They witnessed the change from a single-sex program to a combined program, and have shown tremendous leadership in guiding a very young team this season. Despite having only four seniors, teammates and coaches agree that they have never seen greater team chemistry.

"This year has just been so much fun as far as we've all gotten along," Kornacki said. "It really is just a group of brothers together, and there's no bad part about it."

As for any flaws or mistakes during the meet, Dorenkott was more concerned with making sure that this special senior class had a memorable day. This week, he hopes to see the team continue to focus in preparation for next week's meet at Rutgers.

"I'll have to go back and break down some video to get my finger on the pulse of where we are right now," Dorenkott said. "I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do in the next couple of months. This team has some heart.