I Wednesday, Nov. 10,2010
Kelsey Moms/Collegian
Amy Modglin dives at practice Tuesday at the McCoy Natatorium.
Modglin has made an impact in just her second year at Penn State.
Modglin feels she
made right choice
By Dan Dißacco
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
Some things just come natural
to people.
For sophomore swimmer Amy
Modglin. dancing
it one of those
is no
things
Prior to swim
ming. Modglin
dancer but disliked it, so at the age
of 5, Modglin ditched the dance
shoes and began swimming.
When she was 8 years old,
Modglin was swimming in the
Junior Olympics.
"I hated [dancing],” Modglin
said. "My mom said, ‘Let’s try
swimming since you love the
water.'"
Her freshman year of high
school, Modglin began getting let
ters from colleges all over the
country, and by her senior year
she was a five-star recruit, and
had her choice out of a long list of
colleges.
Originally, Modglin said she
"kind of" committed to Auburn,
and never really considered Penn
State until one of her assistant
coaches, Daryl Sullivan, told her
about his son, Chris, who swam at
Penn State, and talked Modglin
into visiting.
Hailing from Fort Myers, Fla.,
Modglin was skeptical of going to
a school as far away from home as
Penn State, but took the Sullivans'
advice and made one last college
visit to Penn State.
Once she stepped on the Penn
State campus, she knew it was the
right school, and a big win from
Penn Suite s football team sealed
the deal, even though the Lions
didn't have a home game.
I wasn't even going to look
here, and then I just fell in love
with it... 1 committed the next
day." Modglin said. "I was here the
weekend of Ohio State when the
riot was going on [in 2008], I was
like. This is college!' It was really
fun."
Since becoming a Nittany Lion.
Modglin has been nothing short of
impressive. Last season as a
freshman, she was an honorable
mention All-American for the 200-
backstroke, and has continued her
success thus far this season
grabbing her second Big Ten
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Swimmer of the Week honor last
week after a 187-113 win over
Virginia Tech.
Despite being a freshman,
Modglin came into Penn State
knowing a lot of seniors had just
graduated, and expected to make
an immediate impact. Her main
goal was to qualify for NCAAs as a
freshman, and she reached that
goal, as the only Nittany Lion to
qualify for the NCAA champi
onships last season.
“[Making NCAAs] was one of
my biggest personal goals as a
freshman, because it is so compet
itive,” Modglin said. “It was awe
some being at NCAAs. It was such
a whirlwind, I felt like it would
never slow down.”
“Then once I was done with
NCAAs, I was like ‘That was pret
ty cool.’ ”
Looking ahead to the rest of the
season, Modglin said the team
goal is to place in the top-3 at Big
Tens, while individually, she wants
to continue getting faster, and
qualify for more events in NCAAs.
Something her coach, John
Hargis, believes she’s capable of
doing.
“We know that she can be a lot
better than what she is now,”
Hargis said. “It’s the process of
making her believe in how good
she can be. These next 2.5 to 3
years we’ve got with her, I think
we can do some pretty special
things.”
Despite her huge impact in the
pool, Hargis believes that her
impact outside of the pool is just
as important to the team.
“She's so much more than what
you see on paper, as far as times,”
Hargis said. “She's one of our
hardest workers, she does very
well in the classroom, she’s just an
all around great kid."
Modglin is an education major,
and would like to be a teacher
after college.
She has not decided whether or
not she will one day be a swim
ming coach, but for now, she
knows she made the right decision
choosing Penn State.
”[My time at Penn State] has
been amazing, this school has so
much to offer” Modglin said. “It’s
been awesome, the swim team,
the academics, the support staff,
going out and having fun, it’s all
been great.”
SPORTS
Swimmers excited for season
The 2010 men’s swimming
team is shaping up as one of the
youngest in recent memory.
Of the varsity
ad, only for
squad, o> jut
of the swimmers
are seniors. Ten
legiate competi
tion as true
freshmen, but
this has not
deterred the
squad from high
expectations
entering the sea
son.
Part of those
expectations lay
squarely on the shoulders of jun
ior Brian Alden. The junior
freestyle-swimmer was the only
member of the squad to compete
at the NCAA Championships last
season.
There, Alden posted a season
best 43.79 in the 100-meter
freestyle, finishing 30th in the
country.
The junior said he expects to
help lead a young team and have
them enjoy better representation
at the 2011 NCAAs.
Among the key improvements
I '-ff *
'?m Ruar>; Collegian
Brian Alden swims during the Lions' senior meet last season. Alden has stepped up as a leader this year.
Junior Alden showing leadership
As the lone Nittany Lion on the
men’s swimming team to com
pete at the NCAA
Championships last year, Brian
Alden is hoping to have some
company this spring.
The junior freestyle specialist
has captured four individual
titles in Penn State's first two
swim meets. He won the 100 and
200 freestyles at West Virginia
and the 50m and 100 m freestyles
when Penn State played Virginia
Tech.
At last year's NCAA tourna
ment Alden placed 27th in the 200
freestyle, 37th in the 50 freestyle
and posted a career-best time of
43.79 seconds to finish 30th in the
100 freestyle.
Alden raced well at the
Virginia Tech meet, despite a rib
injury. Head coach John Hargis
said he was impressed with
Alden and the level of determina
tion he showed by battling
through injury.
“Competing like he did was a
foot forward for him and honestly
one I didn’t think he would do it,”
Hargis said. “He showed a level
of toughness that I didn't see in
two years, so I was very proud of
Brian stepping up and competing
for the team.”
Alden was unsure of the cause
of the injury, but maintained that
it is no longer an issue and he is
back to 100 percent.
By Sean O’Connor
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
Hargis
By James Nicol
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
he stressed was “attitude”
According to Alden, the team
had a negative atmosphere last
season, and it affected the whole
squad.
This season improved team
unity and mental preparation has
led to a better environment for
everyone.
Alden’s not the only one with
higher expectations for this
team.
“I think we’re competing bet
ter. I think we’re more of a team,
and when I say that I mean we’ve
got a lot of people finally onboard,
finally on the same page and
heading in one direction." head
coach John Hargis said.
“In the past we've had a lot of
tug-of wars with too many people
being selfish athletes. I think now
we’re finally in a place where
everyone is moving forward as
one unit. It's exciting to watch."
Also expected to bolster the
team's record this season are
several high-profile freshmen,
led by Sean Grier and Matt Salig.
The pair won Pennsylvania high
school championships in the 100-
meter and 200-meter fly, respec
tively, last season. Salig actually
won the 200 in his second colle
giate meet versus Virginia Tech
on Oct. 23.
However the team is still far
“He showed a level of toughness that I didn’t
see in two years, so I was very proud of Brian
stepping up and competing for the team.”
"I hurt my ribs," Alden said. "I
don’t know how I did it, but I'm
basicallv fine now."
Being the fastest swimmer on
the team, Alden has assumed the
leadership role among his team
mates. The team lost many expe
rienced swimmers to graduation
and has seen many younger
swimmers take on expanded
roles. Alden said he hopes to help
the underclassmen adjust to the
speed of collegiate swimming.
“I want to lead these young
kids and help them to do the best
they can," Alden said. “It's a
tough transition coming out of
high school and coming to col
lege, so if I can help them at all
that's great."
Changing his attitude has been
just as important as working on
his stroke for Alden this year.
“Last year I was a Little too
negative, so I've been working on
that, trying to be a little more
positive for everybody," Alden
said.
Senior captain John Austin
said that the entire team will like
ly mirror Alden's attitude, so it is
important for him to keep the
team motivated.
Alden holds the top times in
The Daily Collegian
from perfect, and technique has
been stressed for the first few
weeks of the season.
“We’ve lost way too many close
races, we’ve got to focus on get
ting our hand on the wall before
anyone else,” Hargis said.
The team has been working on
their starts, turns and stroke
technique in attempts to improve
across the board.
Assistant coach Aaron
Workman spoke at length about
the team’s youth.
“We have really high expecta
tions. We didn’t have a slow start,
we had a young start,” he said.
"We have nine freshmen we re
really leaning on and it’s a learn
ing process for a lot of these
freshmen getting used to com
peting at the level we compete
at."
Workman went on to add that
the team wants to succeed in the
Big Ten. but is focused more on
the NCAAs due to a lack of depth.
The team will be focused on
improving individual and relay
times to be successful in specific
events, as they don’t have the
depth to run a swimmer for every
single event, which is required at
the Big Ten championships.
The team next competes in a
dual meet at Virginia on Nov.
19th.
John Hargis
coach
Penn State history for the 50,100,
and 200 freestyle, but setting
records is nothing new for Alden.
He has been setting records
since high school.
In high school, at Neuqua
Valley in Naperville, 111., Alden
was a six-time state champion.
He won the state title in the 50
and 100 freestyle, his sophomore,
junior and senior seasons.
Chad Allen was Alden's coach
at Neugua Valley and praised his
leadership abilities.
"He was a great leader for our
team. He just kind of did every
thing the right way. was always
the first one in the water and
always did a nice job with our
drills." Allen said.
"He did everything we asked of
him."
This season Alden will have
plenty of opportunity to test his
leadership and hopefully lead
several Nittany Lions to the
NCAA tournament.
"Brian Alden is a NCAA level
kid, coming back he's gonna be
looked upon as a leader," Hargis
said. “He's done well to this
point."
To e-mail reporter: jsnso49@psu.edu
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