State College, Pa. - Members of the No. 20 Penn State men's swimming team are currently in fourth place at the Princeton Invitational after the first day of competition. The Nittany Lions are participating in two different tournaments this weekend. Half of the swimmers are at Princeton and the other members of the team as well as the divers are hosting the Nittany Lion Invitational at the McCoy Natatorium. Tennessee leads the Princeton Invite with 313 points compared to the Lions' 148.

Brian Hostetler (Chambersburg, Pa.) had the best individual finish for the Lions on Friday with a third place finish in the 50 freestyle in 20.50 seconds. Bob Molettiere (Harleysville, Pa.) touched the wall in 20.70 seconds for sixth place. Eugene Botes (Glen Mills, Pa.), Shaun Anderson (Johnstown, Pa.) , and John Retrum (Anderson, Ind.) rounded out the quintet of finalists in the 50 free with ninth, 18th, and 24th place finishes respectively. The Lions placed two relays in the top six of the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Hostetler, Botes, Molettiere, and Anderson finished third with a time of 1:22.36. Grabbing sixth place was the relay of Hogan Thomas (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Retrum, John Scanlan (Clifton Heights, Pa.), and Kyle Haug (Manhasset, N.Y.)

At the 2000 Nittany Lion Invitational the No. 20 Penn State men's swimming and diving team currently stands in first place. Penn State is looking for their fourth consecutive Nittany Lion Invitational title. Penn State has accumulated 771 points through the 14 events. The University of Maryland-Baltimore County stands in second with 657.

Penn State placed first in five of Saturday's eight events. The 200 Medley relay team of Josh Weaver (York, Pa.), Mike Laskowski (Redmond, Wash.), Chris Bagley (Philadelphia, Pa.), and Martin Schierhorn (Zappendorf, Germany) took first place with a time of 1:34.49. Jaffrey Clark (Malvern, Pa.) and Steve Hodgins (Holmdel, N.J.) grabbed the top two spots in the 400 Individual Medley with times of 4:01.16 and 4:02.00 respectively. Todd Minnier (Avon Lake, Ohio) touched the wall first in the 100 Butterfly in 49.67 seconds. Josh Weaver placed first in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 50.21. Penn State's divers offered another impressive performance by sweeping the diving competition for the second consecutive day. Steve Bohner (Lansdale, Pa.) took first place in the three meter competition with a score of 329.90. Jeff Harrison (Baltimore, Md.) finished in second with 300.90 points. Rounding out the trio was Chris Alderman (Arlington, Va.) with a score of 292.50.