Swimming and Diving: Panthers get first conference win

The Pitt men’s and women’s swim teams got their first in-conference wins of the season when… The Pitt men’s and women’s swim teams got their first in-conference wins of the season when they trounced the Cincinnati Bearcats Friday night at Trees Pool.

The wins gave both Panther teams an important in-conference victory, one that they hope can propel them back toward the top of the conference standings. Both teams were led by standout individual performances on their way to the wins.

The men’s team won all 16 events in which they competed, finishing with a lopsided 237-60 victory over the Bearcats. On the women’s side, juniors Joanna Budzis and Kelsey Herbst brought home first-place finishes on the way to a 217-82 team victory.

Herbst earned a first-place finish in the women’s 500-yard free, with a 4:59.58 time. In a rare occasion, she also swam the 100-yard freestyle, coming .84 seconds off her best time with a 53.89.

“I had a little break last night,” Herbst said Saturday evening. “It’s kind of nice to do the 100-yard free.”

She also took home the gold in the 200-yard free with a 1:53.21, which was also an in-season best time.

“Coach wanted to see what I could do when I was fresh by not swimming the 1,000 before the 200 free,” Herbst said.

Covering for her in the 1,000-yard freestyle was sophomore Julie Harrison, who won the event with a time of 10:19.36. Teammates Kate Dunseith (10:32.88) and Emily Bolek (10:40.98) took second and third to round out the sweep in the grueling, 40-length race.

The sprint group of the women’s team (2-3, 1-2 Big East), led by freshman Dani des Tombe, also cruised to an easy victory over the Bearcat women (1-3, 0-3 Big East) with a final score of 217-82. Des Tombe placed first in the 50-yard freestyle (24.14) and second in the 100-yard freestyle (52.34)

“We are so young on the women’s side, but they’re coming around like you can’t believe,” head coach Chuck Knoles said. “The things that we were not very good at last week, two weeks ago — our pull-outs and our starts — we’ve cleaned those up. They looked really sharp tonight.”

Junior Budzis swept up the women’s 100- and 200-yard backstroke, with times of 57.28 and 2:01.82, respectively. Sophomore Veronica Lee took the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:18.29 and the 100-yard fly with a 57.25.

The meet was a good showcase of talent, according to Knoles. The previous two meets, both losses, were against Big East powerhouses Notre Dame and Louisville. The Irish have 15 more men on their roster than Pitt, and the Cardinals field 13 more than the Panthers. The Cincinnati men’s team (0-4, 0-3 Big East) had only three more swimmers.

“It was a much more even meet number-wise,” Knoles said. “Their guys had to swim as many events as our guys had to swim, for both the men and women.”

The men’s team (2-3, 1-2 Big East) won handedly. The Panthers won every single men’s event, swept the Bearcats in five events, and ended with a final score of 237-60. The Panthers were especially dominant in the 400-yard medley relay, posting an incredible 3:21.83. That relay is ranked eighth best in the nation.

“I did not expect us to go that fast in the medley relay,” Knoles said. “I expected us to be in the 3:24-range. For us to go 3:21 at this point of the season, before we’ve even rested — that’s a great time.”

Each member of the relay went on to dominate his other events. Adam Maczewski, currently the fastest 100-yard backstroker in the Big East, was not to be caught in the 100-yard backstroke on Friday, when he posted a time of 51.27. The 48.75 in his backstroke split on the 400-yard medley was just a hair off of an NCAA ‘B’ cut — which could qualify him for a meet featuring NCAA’s elite. Breaststroker Ben Solari earned the silver in the 200 IM (1:56.39) and the bronze in the 200 freestyle (1:45.29), as well as in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:07.36). Freshman Kourosh Ahani won the men’s 100-yard butterfly, posting a 50.16.

The anchor of the relay, senior Jake van Roekel, went on to win both the 50- and the 100-yard freestyle with times of 21.27 and a 46.57, respectively. But in the 400-yard medley, sophomore Alexander Rodenkirk stole the show with a 45.94 split.

“The way that we did it, we didn’t even have our fastest freestyler on the end of the ‘A’ relay,” Knoles said. “Van Roekel anchored it, but Roedenkirk was faster this week on the ‘B’ relay.”

That’s not the only controversy with the relay. There’s an ongoing battle between senior Solari and sophomore Rob Power for the breaststroke slot. The two have been flip-flopping back and forth over who swims the second leg of the relay.

“It’s going to be back-and-forth until the day we select the relay for the meet we’re going into,” Knoles said. “And they don’t help me out at all because one or the other always ends up swimming faster than the other one when you put the one in the relay.”

And soon, Knoles says, there could be another contender for the position on the relay.

“My guess is that [Luke] Nosbisch is going to be in there real soon,” Knoles said. “His speed is coming around really fast. He’s never lifted weights before, he’s finally going to start resting, and he’s going to be blazing.”

Despite the competitiveness to earn a place on the relay, the rivalries always remains friendly.

“It’s fierce when the gun goes off to race, but we correct each other’s strokes at practice,” Solari said. “We help each other because we are one team. I want to win. And if someone were to beat me, I want it to be a teammate.”