The Penn State men's swimming and diving team ended the Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio, with a total of 295 points and a seventh-place finish.

The Nittany Lions were up against competition that included No. 6 Northwestern, No. 10 and Big Ten Champion Minnesota, No. 11 Indiana, No. 12 Michigan, and No. 13 Ohio State

While seventh place from an outsider's perspective may not seem up to standards for the team, head coach Bill Dorenkott could not be happier with his athletes' performances throughout the weekend.

"I could not be more pleased with our players," he said. " We had a great weekend and were able to set a great foundation for the future because of it."

This foundation was set over the weekend by many swimmers who competed at their highest level of the season.

The men's swim team was led by sophomore Pat Schrink who finished as the runner-up in the men's 200-yard backstroke and finished as Penn State's high scorer with 31 points. Also in the same event, freshman Dan Fimbianti came in 13th place, earning the Lions another four points.

The trio of swimmers in the 1650 freestyle that included sophomores Chris Sullivan and David Kraft, and freshman Ben Ryan helped earn 25 points. Sullivan led the pack, finishing in sixth place, and behind him was Kraft finishing in 10th, and Ryan in 12th place. Kraft was also named Penn State's sportsmanship honoree.

Freshman Tim Williams took sixth place in the in the 200 fly, earning 13 points for Penn State, while junior Kyle Miranda placed 12th in the 200 breaststroke.

Also leading the way in Big Ten Championship were seniors Dan Kaiserian and Mike Alderman. Kaiserian finished 10th in the 100 free, earning the Lions another seven points. Alderman on Saturday finished third on the one-meter springboard and seventh in the three-meter springboard.

Carrying their well rounded performances from past meets with them to Big Tens, the swimming and diving team scored in every event held at this year's competition with the exception of platform diving, an event in which the Lions did not compete in.

With a high amount of underclassmen returning next season for the Lions and a high amount of new recruits coming into next season, look for Penn State to keep improving.

"After this years performance at Big Tens we got a ton of respect from other programs in the conference and now will be able to go out there and get highly prized recruits to get our program to become even better," said Dorenkott.