The Penn State Nittany Lions topped the Virginia Tech Challenge for women, getting multiple wins from Alyson Ackman, Carolyn Fittin, and Megan Siverling.
The H2Okie men got the win at home, with Owen Burns taking three wins individually.
Competing were the Virginia Tech men and women, Penn State men and women, Old Dominion men and women, Liberty women and James Madison women. Penn State and Virginia Tech dominated most of the way, finishing as the top two in both genders.
The meet featured 3 men’s programs and 5 women’s teams. The final tallies were scored out as dual meets between each of the involved teams, essentially a five-way dual meet on the women’s side and a triangular for the men.
Penn State was the big winner on the women’s side, topping all 5 programs. Virginia Tech lost only to Penn State. Liberty finished in the middle, with James Madison next and Old Dominion behind them.
For the men, Virginia Tech won both duals, with Penn State splitting and Old Dominion dropping both meets.
The meet lineup was expanded, featuring 50s of the non-free strokes but no 100s. The event also featured the 100 and 400 IMs.
Notable for Penn State is that returning Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships Shane Ryan sat out after competing in the team’s season opener against Georgia Tech.
For the women, it was the trio of Ackman, Fittin and Siverling that did the most damage. Ackman won the 200 free, where she’s the defending Big Ten champion, by a slim margin over teammate Caitlyn Karr (1:49.54 to 1:49.72). She and Karr also went 1-2 in the 100 free, with Ackman leading in 50.61.
Fittin stepped it down one tier in distance, winning the 50 free (23.37) and 50 fly (24.78). Siverling, meanwhile, went up in yardage, sweeping the 500 (4:51.72) and 1000 (9:53.47) freestyles.
Virginia Tech got a pair of wins from distance man Jake Ores. The senior put up times of 9:14.61 and 4:31.69 to win the 1000 and 500, respectively. That 500 freestyle was a narrow win of just .11 over teammate Michal Szuba. The big sprint winner for the H2Okies was CJ Fiala, who paced the 50 free (20.56) and 50 breast (26.22).
But winning the most events was Owen Burns, who took the 100 free (44.80) and 200 free (1:38.74) before coming back to earn a win in the meet’s other unique event, the 100 IM, in 50.26.
For the Hokie women, Klaudia Nazieblo tripled up on the day. She took the 200 back (2:00.80) and 200 fly (1:59.69) before coming back to win the 100 IM, in 57.76, a narrow touchout of three one-hundredths over Penn State’s Katie Saloky.
Virginia Tech swept diving with Kaylea Arnett (1-meter: 303.55) and Ashley Buchter (3-meter: 307.00) combining for the women’s wins and TJ Shinholser (326.80 and 353.60) sweeping the men’s events.
The second-place Penn State men got two wins from Nate Savoy. Savoy swept the backstrokes, highlighted by a quick 22.16 in the 50. He was actually slightly faster on the 200 medley relay, leading off in 22.11. Savoy also went 1:45.94 to win the 200-yard distance.
Not terribly impressed with VT right now. Times are far behind other ACC competition. Did they have a few swimmers leave, missing a couple names?
Where was Shane Ryan for Penn State?
Virginia Tech men beat Penn. State 233-120…