Weekend sports: Pitt sets records high and low

It was a weekend for the record books, as Pitt sports topped past streaks in wins and losses.

The track and field team broke two school records with best times, while men’s basketball broke the record for longest losing streak in a season with 11 straight and wrestling, tennis and gymnastics fell everywhere in between.

Gymnastics — Stephen Cuddy, For The Pitt News

The gymnastics team hosted a quad meet against NC State, Towson and Temple at the Fitzgerald Field House on Saturday. Pitt took third place with a score of 193.125, with NC State in first place, followed by Temple.

The Panthers gave an average performance, but stood out on floor — their highest scoring event of the day with a score of 48.825. Still, it wasn’t enough to crack the top two.

First-year Haley Brechwald took home the highest individual scores in vault, bars and floor among her teammates. Her score of 9.825 on bars was also matched by sophomore Megan Tripp.

Senior Catie Conrad led the way for the Panthers on the beam, posting a score of 9.750.

The gymnastics team is on the road next week on Friday as they travel to Texas Woman’s University where they will face Auburn and NC State.

Track and Field — Stephen Cuddy, For The Pitt News

The track and field team was in South Bend, Indiana, this weekend to partake in the Meyo Invitational. The team had strong showings on both Friday and Saturday.

Three Panthers set personal records on Friday. Senior Andin Fosam won the women’s weight throw on a personal best of 20.54m, while first-year Ade Jones-Roundtree ran a 21.51 in the 200m and sophomore Taylor Middleton had a long jump of 5.96m, also setting personal bests.

In total, eight Panthers qualified for the semifinal rounds the following day.

Two school records were broken on Saturday. Sophomore Nick Wolk broke the 27-year-old record for the men’s 3000m with a time of 8:07.09, the previous record set at 8:09.52. An all-senior relay — consisting of Morgan Harvey, Quadaisha Newkirk, Laila Ismail and Desiree Garland — set a record of its own in the 4x400m relay on their way to claiming victory in the event. They ran a 3:35.73, breaking the old record of 3:36.43.

Nine Panthers finished in the top 10 for the day and the men’s 4x400m relay team ended the competition second overall with a time of 3:11.44, falling short by only .04 seconds.

The team will travel to Kent, Ohio, next week for the Kent invitational, their last meet before the ACC Indoor Championships. The ACC Championships will be held on Feb. 22.

Wrestling — Stephen Cuddy, For The Pitt News

The wrestling team continued its current skid as it fell to a record of 2-9 and 0-3 in the ACC to the NC State Wolfpack at home this past Friday, the final score coming in at 23-9.

The Panthers started the day losing 17 straight matches. Redshirt junior Zach Bruce won at 197 pounds, earning all five of his points in the third period. The final score of his match was 5-0. The Panthers also saw junior LJ Bentley win at 125 pounds and senior Dom Forys at 133 pounds. Forys won 7-5 and Bentley won 4-3.

The team goes again on Friday as they host South Dakota State in the Fitzgerald Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.

Tennis — Stephen Cuddy, For The Pitt News

The tennis team fell for the first time this season with a 4-2 loss to Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday. This moves the Panthers to a record of 3-1 for the season.

The Panthers dropped two out of the three doubles matches, losing 6-1 and 6-4, one match going unfinished and ending 5-5.

Senior Callie Frey moves to 4-0 on the year, as she won her match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. The Panthers’ other win on the day came from junior Natsumi Okamoto as she also took home her fourth victory of the season, defeating Kanako Yano, 7-5, 6-3.

The team will take on Eastern Michigan this Saturday at home, as they have their final tune-up before ACC play begins against Louisville Sunday.

Men’s Basketball — Jordan Mondell, Assistant Sports Editor

The Pitt men’s basketball team struggled against No. 19 North Carolina Saturday night, but the Panthers didn’t leave Chapel Hill entirely empty-handed, taking home the record for longest losing streak in program history.

Beating 10-game losing bouts during 1968-69 and 1992-93 seasons, the Panthers (8-16 overall, 0-11 ACC) have now lost 11 games straight, and remain winless in the ACC. Though the team kept up with the Tar Heels for most of the first half, the Tar Heel offense overpowered the Panthers in the second, with North Carolina (17-7 overall, 6-5 ACC) winning 96-65.

Pitt will seek to stop their record-breaking losing streak when they travel to South Carolina this Thursday to take on No. 20 Clemson. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

Read the full story here.

Women’s Basketball — Trent Leonard, Staff Writer

For the second straight Sunday, Pitt women’s basketball took a ranked team down to the wire, but ultimately couldn’t hold on for the victory. The Panthers fell to the No. 10 Florida State Seminoles, 66-59, at the Petersen Events Center.

“I’m so proud of the effort our players gave the entire game,” head coach Suzie McConnell-Serio said. “They stuck to the game plan. It was just a disappointing ending to a hard-fought game.”

Despite shooting at a higher percentage than its opponent, Pitt (10-14 overall, 2-9 ACC) failed to contain the outside shooting of FSU graduate guard AJ Alix, who drained seven of her nine 3-point attempts for a game-high 25 points. The Seminoles (19-4 overall, 7-3 ACC) also dominated the Panthers on the offensive glass by a margin of 17 to five.

The Panthers will take a week off before their next game on the road against Boston College on Sunday, Feb. 11, at 1 p.m.

Read the full story here.