Cooper Morley Double Leads Penn State Sweep of West Virginia
Cooper Morley swept the men’s backstroke events as Penn State claimed a nonleague sweep of West Virginia on Friday.
The Nittany Lions’ men won, 163-137, while the women prevailed by a 157-140 margin.
Morley’s wins helped the Nittany Lions overcome a DQ to their 400 medley relay that made things closer than need be. Morley went 46.66 to win the 100 back with teammate Matthew Bittner second. In the 200, his 1:44.89 was clear of the field by a second.
Tylor Kim did the sprint double for Penn State, winning the 50 free with a time of 20.13 seconds and the 100 free in 44.03. Kim anchored the 200 free relay that won in 1:20.15 to put a bow on the meet, teaming with Rylan Anselm, Morley and Bittner.
Penn State won both breaststroke events, Mariano Lazzerini going 52.85 in the 100 breast with Vicente Villanueva second. Villanueva then won the 200 in 1:56.60. Bittner went 47.13 to win the 100 fly. Andrew Chistensen won the 400 individual medley in 3:54.02.
Jake Salcedo won the 1,000 freestyle for West Virginia and tied with Anselm in 4:29.75 to win the 500. Felix Vicknair won the 200 fly in 1:47.77. Szymon Mieczkowski, Rafael Miguel Mimoso, Dragos Ghile and Jameson McEnaney comprised a 400 medley relay that went 3:14.34 to win.
Margaret Markvardt book-ended the win for Penn State’s women’s team. She led off the 400 medley relay that won in 3:40.77 and anchored the 200 free relay that caped the meet with a victory in 1:32.15. In between, she won the 100 back in 53.45 and the 100 fly in 53.88.
Catherine Meisner and Cyrah Robinson joined her on both winning relays. On the medley was Audrey Cohen, who swept the breaststroke events. Morgan Moore won the 1,000 and 500 free for the Nittany Lions. Katie Ketter (23.04) and Robinson went 1-2 in the 50 free. Ketter was third in the 100 free with Meisner second. Julia Barto won the 400 IM.
Gabriele Martin de la Torre won the 200 free for West Virginia. Maddie Smutny had a fascinating day for the Mountaineers. She won the 200 fly in 2:00.81, was second in the 100 fly and third in the 500 free. Delaney Cox won the 200 back and was second in the 100 back.
