Athletics

Ryan, Garcia to represent Lions at NCAA championships

Credit: Penn State AthleticsAll Rights Reserved.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Penn State senior Shane Ryan and sophomore Hector Garcia Boissier will represent the Nittany Lions at the 2017 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be co-hosted by Indiana University and Purdue University at Indianapolis and Indiana Sports Corp at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 22-25.

Ryan received his official invitation Wednesday. He is making his third trip to the NCAA championships, while Garcia is making his second. Ryan will compete in the 50 and 100 freestyles and the 100 backstroke, while Garcia will compete in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards.

Ryan enters the NCAAs ranking in the top six in all three events. He ranks highest in the 100 back with a seed time of 44.65 seconds, just four-hundredths of a second shy of the season-best swim by Cal’s Ryan Murphy, the reigning three-time NCAA gold medalist in the event and the 2016 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the 100-meter backstroke. Ryan is a two-time NCAA medalist in the 100 back, earning silver in 2014 and bronze in 2015 before taking last season off to train in Ireland for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He was a semifinalist in the 100m back in Rio.

Ryan also ranks sixth in the 50 free (19.03) and fifth in the 100 free (41.86). All three of his times are Penn State records and NCAA A-cuts.

At the NCAA championships last season as a freshman, Garcia Boissier became the first Nittany Lion diver to earn honorable ­­­mention All-America honors since Adam Pierce in 2006. He is also coming off his best Big Ten championships performance, setting a school record in the 3-meter dive with a finals total of 465.00 to place fourth.­­

Garcia punched his NCAA ticket at the NCAA Zone A Regionals this week. He posted a 12-dive score of 729.10 in the 3-meter to place second Tuesday, and he qualified in the 1-meter Monday, winning the event with a score of 739.30.

Last Updated March 9, 2017