UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams claimed three individual weekly honors from the Big Ten Conference after their opening week, as senior Shane Ryan was named the Men’s Swimmer of the Week, Hector Garcia Boissier was named the Men’s Diver of the Week and Maddie Hart was named the Women’s Freshman of the Week.
Penn State opened the 2016-17 season with convincing wins, defeating Towson by scores of 171-117 (men) and 179-110 (women), respectively, Thursday in McCoy Natatorium. Ryan earned four golds in his first competition for the Nittany Lions since the 2014-15 season to earn his third career swimmer of the week nod. Individually, the returning Olympian won the 50 freestyle in 20.49 seconds and the 100 free in 44.52 seconds – more than 2 seconds faster than the next best finisher. Both times rank in the top five nationally so far this season. He also anchored the 200 medley relay (1:31.93) to victory to start the meet and he gave the 200 free relay team a healthy start in the finale.
Garcia posted a score of 319.17 in the 1-meter dive and 337.5 in the 3-meter to sweep both events against Towson. An honorable mention All-American last season, the sophomore earns his first career diver of the week honor and is the first Nittany Lion to be recognized as such since Alex Marchinski on Jan. 4, 2011.
On the women’s side, Hart had an impressive debut, joining the Nittany Lions’ winning 200 medley effort and also touching first in the 100 butterfly (56.66) and 100 back (56.08).