Austin, Texas¨C The #13 Penn State women¡¯s swim team struggled in day two of the NCAA Championships. As a result they now stand in 21st place with 34 points. The Lions had entered the second day in 13th. Auburn continues to lead the competition with 337 points with Georgia in second with 270 points.

Sophomore Kristen Woodring (Sinking Spring, Pa.) placed 15th overall in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:02.11. Woodring placed 3rd at last year¡¯s Championships, but was unable to duplicate a top five finish this year. She will have another chance to earn All-American honors in tomorrow¡¯s 200-yard breaststroke

Penn State also competed in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Although, the Nittany Lions swam a season best time of 7:23.67 they were unable to garner any team points. Penn State¡¯s team consisted of Sally Anderson (Somerset, N.J.), Deirdre Dlugonski (Washington, Pa.), Erin Mulshenock (New Castle, Pa.) and Jen Eberst (Clifton Park, N.Y.).

The Nittany Lions had hoped to garner team points out of their 200-yard medley relay and possibly out of freshman automatic qualifier Courtney Stanchock (Bloomsburg, Pa.), but both were disqualified in the preliminary heats. The 200 medley for jumping the blocks and Stanchock for false starting.

On Thursday, the opening day of the Championships, Penn State had several impressive performances. Sally Anderson highlighted the Nittany Lions day one competition. In the prelims of the 500-yard freestyle she broke the school record with a time of 4:45.71, which bettered her older sister Katie¡¯s record of 4:46.27. In the consolation final she placed fifth, which earned 13th overall.

The Nittany Lions also swam in both the relay finals. Penn State placed 10th in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay. Both times were off their season bests, but were good enough to earn them Penn State¡¯s highest ever NCAA placing in both events.

The highlight of the NCAA Championships has been the performance of California sophomore Natalie Coughlin. She has broken three NCAA, American and US Open records in the two days of competition. In the 100-yard backstroke, Coughlin swam a stunning time of 49.97, which broke her own record of 50.57 set yesterday as a leadoff leg on the 400 medley relay. Two events before the 100 back she swam a time of 50.01 in the 100-yard butterfly, which broke her own record of 51.18 that she set in the prelims. She has also set a record in the 50 back as the leadoff leg on two relays.

Tomorrow¡¯s final day of competition will begin with the preliminaries starting at 11:00 a.m. (12:00 ET) and the finals at 7:00 p.m. (8:00 ET). Corrie Clark (Malvern, Pa.) is Penn State¡¯s highest seed with the 10th fastest time in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Penn State Quotes

Head Coach Bill Dorenkott:

On disappointment of second day:
We a rough day and we need to regroup, refocus and come back tomorrow.

On what the team needs to do to come back strong tomorrow:
You are going to have days like this and this will be a good judge of character. You can find out more about people when things are down as opposed to when things are going their way.

Impressions of the meet after two days:
We have a young group and just getting to the NCAA¡¯s to get some experience will be a great help for the future. We have to figure out what need to get better and come back stronger.

On what it would to cap the season off on a strong note:
Finishing up strong is what it is all about. We have had a great season and to finish strong would be mean a lot to the program.

On the performance of California¡¯s Natalie Coughlin:
Incredible, we are witnessing history. An athlete like that comes along once in a very long time. The things she is doing here are very special.