The regular season meets are winding down. The time to prepare for the Big Ten Championships is becoming precious.

The Penn State men's swimming and diving team will travel to Notre Dame for one of its last chances to compete before Big Tens. The Shamrock Invitational will include host Notre Dame, Louisville, Oakland, Missouri and the Nittany Lions. The competition will begin at 5 p.m. today and continue at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Even though there will be no Big Ten challengers, the meet should still be a decent test for the Penn State swimmers.

"Regardless if it is a Big Ten opponent or a non-Big Ten opponent, this time of the year the focus is still to get up and race," Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott said. "I'm awfully excited to see where we are right now in terms of racing. I'm looking forward to see what kind of speed we have right now. There's going to be some good competition out there."

Out of all the teams at this weekend's meet, Penn State is ranked the highest at No. 16. Notre Dame and Missouri are not too far behind at No. 19 and No. 25, respectively.

Unranked Oakland has the most underrated sprint coach in Pete Hovland, according to Dorenkott. On his side, Hovland has senior Chris Sullivan to provide a lot of pressure for the talented Penn State swimmers.

"Sullivan was a top-eight NCAA sprinter," Dorenkott said. "He's going to give our guys all they can handle."

Every team this weekend has its top performers, but the team with the most depth looks to be the Fighting Irish. Besides Penn State, they are the team everyone will have an eye on.

"Notre Dame is the team to beat," Dorenkott said. "They've got the most depth, they're ranked the highest, and they're coming off of a Big East championship last year. It should be an awesome challenge to get up there and race against them."

The Lions have been training smart, saving up their top performances, and are ready for the challenge. This is the time the team can focus in on the details and gain some confidence in time for the Big Ten championships, according to senior Shawn McLin. This weekend's meet should be a great opportunity for the men to do just that.

"Hopefully we could all swim well, everybody will be clicking, and we can win," McLin said. "All those teams have a lot of good kids all around. It's going to be a good meet in general for everybody. All the events should be pretty close, so hopefully we'll be able to pick up some victories."

Now that the Big Ten Championships are getting closer, the swimmers will be competing in their most successful events. As with all the previous dual meets, Dorenkott wants the team to see this weekend's meet as yet another step to the ultimate goal.

"The key to everything is not so much focusing on the wins or losses, but it's in the preparation," Dorenkott said. "With kind of keeping with our theme with our dual meets, it's another step towards where we want to be. Just to do our fastest swimming at the Big Tens and NCAAs. That being said, our guys are going to be swimming in their primary events, and we're going out there to knock some heads."