Despite having to travel for the third straight weekend and coming off of a tough loss against Notre Dame, two words are enough to motivate the Penn State men's swimming and diving team: Ohio State.

Today the Nittany Lions will be in Columbus, Ohio, taking on Kenyon, followed by a meet with the Buckeyes on Saturday. This will be the team's last competition before the Big Ten Championships.

Saturday should provide some quality preparation for the bright lights as the Lions get one last taste of Big Ten competition before the Championships. Sophomore Sean Biedermann looks forward to competing against a tough rival.

"The stakes are always higher against a Big Ten rival like Ohio State," Biedermann said. "Practice has gone really well this week, and we're pretty confident."

Despite the rivalry, Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott is more concerned with keeping his team healthy and paying more attention to detail in the water. After a long season and consecutive weekends on the road, fatigue and illness have taken a toll on the team.

This week, the Lions have taken some time to rest and recover while focusing on dryland workouts and weight training. Despite some of the sicknesses that have plagued the team, Dorenkott has full confidence in his squad's ability to come out strong.

"We've had to deal with some problems, but I don't think I'll have to motivate these guys," Dorenkott said. "They're disappointed about the meet [with Notre Dame], and they've really shown some resolve this week."

A sluggish start on the first day of competition caused problems for the team at the Shamrock Invitational. Dorenkott knows that the team's performance must improve in order to come away with a win this weekend.

"With a 13-event format, there's little margin for error," Dorenkott said. "We need more front-end, easy speed, and we need more lively arms in the water. We looked too heavy last week."

The Lions hope that a strong start and fast swimming will provide an indicator of things to come in a few weeks at the Championships. Biedermann knows that, in order to finish this road trip on a good note, the team must come out with more intensity and speed than it did against the Fighting Irish.

"We need to do well early and build on that," Biedermann said. "We can't afford to let any races get away."

As of now, Dorenkott believes that his team needs to make some strides in order to be competitive in the conference. However, he is confident in this group, which, according to Dorenkott, has single-handedly elevated the men's swimming program.

"We're definitely not exactly where we need to be from a performance standpoint," Dorenkott said. "But I'm real proud of these guys. This is a very close team, and I'm extremely confident about this weekend."