For the Penn State men's and women's swimming and diving teams, this weekend's Bell Grand Prix in Toronto may have been known as "qualifying weekend." The tournament wound up giving the Nittany Lions several NCAA qualifying times, a number by both the men and women.
The first day of action saw the Lions gain some rightfully deserved attention from the more than 60 different squads from both the United States and Canada, as the men and women picked up six NCAA qualifying times and had impressive performances all around.
For the men, sophomore Pat Schirk captured the first qualifying time with a hard-earned third place finish in the 200 backstroke. His time of 1:57.26 was just under three seconds behind world record holder Ryan Lochte. In the same heat, freshman Dan Fimbianti and sophomore Ryan DeWeese also placed in the top 16, with Fimbianti placing 13th, and DeWeese finishing 16th.
Junior Kyle Miranda took fifth in the 100-meter breaststroke event, and the relay team of senior Dan Kaiserian, juniors Sean Biedermann and Sean Swanepoel and freshman Basil Kaaki took second in the 400-meter relay, with a time of 3:22.12, four seconds better than their previous mark.
The women saw success on the first day as well, with nine swimmers placing in the top eight in their respected races. Freshman Daphne Skelos captured a NCAA B qualifying time in the 200 backstroke in just her second race of the year. Sophomore Kelly Nelson, freshman Kailey Morris and senior Megan Palera also qualified for the NCAAs with successful finishes in the 400-meter individual medley and 400 freestyle.
Head coach Bill Dorenkott was pleased with his teams after day one, but knew that there was a lot ahead at stake.
"We got of on a good note," he said. "A number of swimmers stepped it up today, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's events."
What Dorenkott saw on day two was nothing short of day one. The Lions had four more NCAA qualifying times, as they looked even stronger as the tournament rolled on. Nelson, along with sophomore Karie Haglund picked up their qualifying times with top finishes in the 100-butterfly event. Sophomore Kaitlin O'Brien achieved another qualifying time in the 200 IM, and the relay team of Molly Crispell and Jessica Barnes, Michelle Myers and Nelson also captured a top finish in the 800 freestyle relay.
For the men, Miranda finished third in the 200 breaststroke, just .23 seconds off of an NCAA cut. Kaiserian also came close to qualifying in the 50 freestyle, yet finished less than a second off the mark with a time of 0:23.14. Sophomore Tim Williams finished seventh in the 100-meter butterfly, while Biedermann took seventh in the 200 IM.
The final day of action brought yet even more success to the Lions, with Palera capturing first in the 800 freestyle, beating out 30 other swimmers by over five seconds. Nelson captured another top five finish in the 200-meter fly with a time of 2:12.35, earning her a second place finish. Teammate Haglund was fourth in the event.
Williams helped to continue the success for the men, with a first place finish in the 200 butterfly, and sophomore Chris Sullivan took first in the 1500-meter freestyle.
