The best way to prepare for a big competition is another competition. The Penn State men's swimming and diving team competed in its last dual meet this weekend before the Big Ten Championships in late February.

The team first faced Kenyon College on Friday and came away with a demanding 194-110 victory. The men struggled at first, only winning two of the first six events. After the slow start, the men were able to sweep the last five events adding up to seven first-place finishes total.

A slow start was part of the team's downfall during last week's loss to Notre Dame. Fortunately, this time the men were able to pull in the victory. Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott wants to make sure this won't be a problem in the future. The important thing is to have a strong showing from the first to last event.

"We've got to come together and make sure we've got the whole team hitting on eight cylinders if we are going to be as effective as we can be," Dorenkott said.

One of the meet's top performers was freshman Ryan DeWeese. DeWeese came away with two first-place finishes in the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle swims. Penn State also came away with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay, which has always been a strong point for this year's team.

After the Kenyon meet, the team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to take on No. 18 Ohio State University. No. 22 Penn State came very close to an upset but fell short by a 126.5-107.5 score.

The highlight of the meet was once again the 200-yard freestyle relay where Penn State captured the top three spots. The winning team consisted of junior Dan Kaiserian, sophomore Sean Biedermann, and freshmen Jason Goldner and Spencer Maglich. Biedermann also took first place in the 200-yard freestyle swim with a time of 1:38.4. Other first place finishes came from senior Adam Pierce in the 1-meter dive and sophomore Kyle Miranda in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Now that all the dual meets are out of the way, this season's main goal is now only a couple of weeks away. The Big Ten Championships is what the men have been working so hard for all season long. Every dual meet has been taken as yet another step towards that final goal. Penn State finished eighth in last year's championship and is determined to make a big improvement.

In terms of current rankings, there are only three Big Ten teams ranked higher than Penn State. Last year's winner, Minnesota is currently at the No. 8 spot in the nation. No. 15 Northwestern and No. 18 Ohio State are the other teams ahead of Penn State.

Penn State will travel to Indiana University for the Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 23rd for a three-day competition. With almost three full weeks to prepare, the team will be working harder than ever to improve and stay in the best shape possible. This is the last chance to make sure everything is clicking and ready to go.

"We need to really get prepared and focus on some of the details like turns, starts, some breathing patterns," senior Shawn McLin said. "Going into Big Tens and really getting everything down, fine tuning everything so we're all ready by the end."