Coming to Penn State as highly touted freshmen recruits, Merritt Krawczyk, Amy Modglin, and Paige Whitmire knew that a lot would be expected of them to perform to the best of their abilities.

But don't expect any of them to crack under the pressure of having high expectations to live up to.

"When things get hard, you look forward to what you're going to achieve," Krawczyk said. "Keep it in the back of your mind at all times."

Through the first two meets of the Penn State women's swimming team's young season, these three blue chip recruits have swum like veterans, especially in the first meet against St. Bonaventure.

Krawczyk finished almost six seconds ahead of second place in the 200 breaststroke, Modglin cruised to an easy victory in the 200 backstroke and Whitmire clocked in the best time of the event in the 50 freestyle.

But these finishes weren't just results of racing what some would consider an early-season "cupcake" team.

This past weekend's meet against talented West Virginia out of the Big East and back-to-back Patriot League champion Colgate proved that the freshman could hang with the best.

Modglin was a double winner in individual meets, turning in top times in the 400 IM and the 200 backstroke. Whitmire contributed to two first-place finishes for the home team in both the 400 medley and 400 freestyle relay events. And Krawczyk finished with the Lions' second-best time in the 200 breaststroke and also contributed to one of the first-place relay efforts.

"We want to have a good meet, every meet," Whitmire said.

So far, these three have done just that.

But the transition from the easily dominated high school swimming scene to the challenging and extremely talented world of collegiate swimming hasn't been as easy as it might appear for the decorated freshmen.

"It's been tough," Modglin said. "I've been swimming since I was five years old. It's not that the swimming is different, just everything."

With grueling practices every day, and big meets every week, racing for a highly competitive Division I team, the three are quickly realizing that the level of competition at the college level is far more advanced than high school.

"In high school, you could get by with whatever you wanted," Krawcyzk said.

As difficult as it has been for the trio, they're beginning to find ways to overcome the hardships brought on by the major changes.

Having such a strong support system from the rest of the team has proved to be the most effective for them all.

"Upperclassmen definitely help," Modglin said. "It's really nice to have someone who's been through it."

While still a bit confused and overwhelmed, they're all equally focused on achieving big things this season, and getting there the right way.

"We hopefully want to continue to dominate as a team," Modglin said. "Our ultimate goal is to win Big Tens, while keeping everyone healthy, training hard, and swimming fast."

But don't expect their aspirations to stop there.

"Of course we want to make NCAA's too," Whitmire added.