University Park, Pa. — Penn State men's swimming & diving earned high marks for its latest recruiting class as CollegeSwimming.com pegged the 2011 Nittany Lion class at 23rd in the nation. Leading the way were Pac-12 powers Stanford and California in first and second, respectively.
Penn State, which welcomed seven new additions on Friday, June 10, previously had Ian Decker (Fairfax, Va.), Nate Savoy (Reading, Pa.), Jonathan Ekstrom (Silver Spring, Md.) and Kurt Ratcliff (Centreville, Va.) in the early signing period. Savoy earned All-America honors this past season, while Ekstrom is the highest rated recruit according to CollegeSwimming.com. Savoy was not included in the total rankings.
During the spring signing period, the Nittany Lions added Adil Acar (Istanbul, Turkey), Nick Ankosko (East Brunswick, N.J.), Nathan Reed (Berwyn, Pa.), Andrew Smiddy (Miami, Fla.), Larry Virgilio (Pine Bush, N.Y.), Jeff Young (Hershey, Pa.) and Tennessee transfer Seth Wensel (Christiansburg, Va.). Virgilio, Reed and Young are three of PSU's next highest rated swimmers to bolster a talented squad.
Last season, Penn State saw its 200 medley relay earn All-America honors, finishing ninth at NCAAs. The 2011-12 team sees all its NCAA participants from a year ago return to the Nittany Lions including captains Scott Marino (Scotch Plains, N.J.) and All-Big Ten honoree Mitch Scherer (Pottstown, Pa.).