The Big Ten Championships will be a true test for Penn State. It will be going up against No. 6 Northwestern, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State (ranked Nos. 10-13, respectively), and No. 18 Purdue.
The biggest concern the Nittany Lions will have coming into this weekend is shaking off any rust from having a three-week layoff. However, after winning seven of their last eight dual meets and their performance three weeks ago in the Shamrock Invitational at Notre Dame, the Lions look to be ready for the heightened competition Big Ten Championships bring.
At the Shamrock Invitational, the men won three of the four dual matches in convincing fashion and won five of the last seven events of the day, topping the Irish 221.5-147.5, Oakland 257-112, and UConn 240-80. The only dual match the Lions lost was against West Virginia 193-177.
Their weekend started with the 800 freestyle relay team of freshman Jon Cochrane, sophomore Pat Schrick, junior Sean Biedermann and sophomore Spencer Maglich taking first place.
That was followed by a convincing win in the 1,650 free by sophomore David Kraft with a time of 15 minutes, 40.33 seconds and Schrink winning the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:47.43.
Senior Dan Kaiserian came in first in the 100 free with a time of 45.67 seconds, and contributing to the first place win on the 400 relay team that included himself, freshman Basil Kaaki, junior Sean Swanepoel, and junior Biedermann.
The men's diving team also competed at a high level. Senior Mike Alderman again led the way for the Lions with a seventh-place finish in the three-meter dive, and sophomore Josh Myers came in 11th.
With the men's swimming and diving teams creating such a balanced attack in the sprint and distance events and the surge of the diving team, the men's team seems to be hitting its stride at just the perfect time.
The Lions come into this weekend more confident than ever, believing that they can leave Columbus with a Big Ten Championship.
