The Pitt women’s swimming and diving team, which lost two of its three previous meets, lost to… The Pitt women’s swimming and diving team, which lost two of its three previous meets, lost to Penn State at the Maryland tri-meet this past weekend, but it didn’t come out winless.

Several Pitt women offered standout performances that allowed the team to beat Villanova, giving it hope as it looks ahead.

In the swimming events, sophomore Kelsey Herbst led the Panthers on her way to earning not only Pitt’s Performer of the Meet honors but also a first place finish in the 500 freestyle over swimmers from Penn State and Maryland..

Her time, 4:53.40, was just under five seconds ahead of Penn State’s Diana Greco [4:58.15]. Herbst says that regardless of whether she is winning or losing, the 500 freestyle has always been her favorite race.

“Even in high school, the 500 was always my favorite event,” Herbst said. “I have the experience of being in it for so long, and that definitely motivated me to pull away in the end of that race.”

The award, which is voted on by captains of the team, wasn’t something Herbst considered at all during the meet.

“It’s not something I think about,” Herbst said. “I just try to think about myself and my body when I get up on the blocks.”

Herbst and Greco also finished in the top two spots during the mile freestyle, during which Greco beat Herbst by about eight seconds. Yet, Herbst’s time in the mile [16:49.51] was a career landmark.

“My mile was a lifetime best, so that was something that was definitely nice to accomplish,” Herbst said. “Penn State just has a great swimmer in that race.”

Herbst didn’t stop there. In the 200 freestyle, she took another second place finish, this time trailing Amy Modglin of Penn State. The 200 is a race that Herbst has improved in significantly this season.

“It definitely gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can still improve,” Herbst said. “I just keep challenging myself and trying to do my best. Hopefully that motivates everyone else on the team.”

The meet, which brought Pitt’s record to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big East, was the beginning of a home stretch toward the conference championships in mid-February. But, the loss to Penn State isn’t getting in the way of anyone’s focus.

“There will always be losses,” Herbst said. “This is college; there are a lot of fast swimmers out there. When it comes down to it, people want to see who the top performers are at Big East [Conference Championships].”

On the diving end, sophomore Brittany DiSanti scored 246.55 points in the 3M event, good enough to top all but senior teammate Morgan Speece, who finished with 254.45 points. DiSanti, who earned Pitt’s Performer of the Meet award for the women’s diving team, also finished second in the 1M event with 238.35 points.

“We only took four girls this weekend, so I felt like I needed to perform a bit better,” DiSanti said. “I put more pressure on myself.”

The pressure paid off. Earning the Pitt Performer of the Meet was a good step in DiSanti’s career, and she was pleasantly surprised by her success and recognition over the weekend.

“I didn’t think that was going to happen,” DiSanti said with a laugh.

DiSanti is one member of a group of younger divers who have had to step into leadership positions this year. So far, things seem to be going well.

“We’ve been forced to become better leaders,” DiSanti said. “We’re more motivated as a team this year.”

Just like the swim team, the diving team is also preparing for the final stretch. With the season winding down, everyone’s focus seems to be shifting in the same direction.

“We know we only have three weeks left,” DiSanti said. “We’re trying to motivate each other to hit some dives at practice that we might not be as confident with, just boost our confidence as a team.”

Similar to Herbst, DiSanti expressed the fact that the team is ramping it up for the conference tournament.

“We’re all working really hard,” DiSanti said. “It may not pay off every day or at every meet, but we’re all training as hard as we can to be prepared for the Big East [Championships].”