Penn State hands IU first loss

The women's swimming and diving team lost their first meet of the season over the weekend, to the same Penn State team they lost to in the waning moments of last year's Big Ten championships. \nIU, now 7-1 overall (4-1 in the Big Ten) defeated unranked Michigan State, 259-111, but lost to the No. 20 Nittany Lions, 195.50-173.50.\nThe Hoosiers began the meet by capturing first in the 200-yard freestyle relay. IU's team of sophomores Tammy Kostner and Erin Smith, senior Anne Williams, and junior Meghan Medendorp recorded a time of 1:35.13, winning the event by only 0.38 seconds. \nIn the 400-yard medley relay, IU finished second and third against both PSU and MSU. \nJunior Sarah Fiden won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:56:99, and junior Brooke Taflinger won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:04:39. The Spartans took the final two events of the first day of competition, leaving the Hoosiers with a 12 point lead over PSU and a 26 point lead over MSU. This would be the last time the Hoosiers held the lead against the Nittany Lions.\nIn the second session of the weekend, the Hoosiers got a boost from performances in the 400-yard IM. A 1-2-3 finish by freshmen Kristen Bradley and Lauren Lubus and senior Kristy Martin got IU off to a good start. \nBut the team scoring of PSU proved to be too much for the Hoosiers. The Nittany Lions went on to win both the 200-yard medley relay and the 800 free relay, while also winning the 100-yard butterfly, 200- yard free, 100-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard butterfly.\nIU began the afternoon session by scoring an early victory, when Fiden won the 1,650-yard freestyle. But, the Hoosiers were unable to make up any ground in the team scoring, as PSU finished second and third in the event. After another win by the Nittany Lions, Medendorp netted a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 51.34. But in the end, the PSU team was too consistent to allow a comeback, and closed out the meet winning the 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, and 400-yard freestyle relay.\nThe blemish on IU's undefeated season came at the last Big Ten regular season meet. The Hoosiers have a weekend off, before facing their final regular season competition against the Kentucky Wildcats on Senior Day at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center on Friday, Feb. 7.