Pitt swim and dive, cross country and softball find success over the weekend

Pitt swimming and dive, cross country and softball all found success within their respective events in the Keystone State over the weekend. 

Swim and dive

The Panthers remained in Pittsburgh this weekend to compete in the CMU Relay Meet. 

The meet did not have diving or individual events. Instead, the Panthers completed a series of relays against Division III Carnegie Mellon. 

Pitt blew past the Tartans, winning 13 of the 16 relays. 

Senior Donat Fabian, first-year Alex Bauer, sophomore Michal Piela and senior Max Matteazzi competed in the 500-yard Freestyle Relay. The quartet finished in 4:03.61 — nearly five seconds before Carnegie Mellon finished.

Head coach Chase Kreitler said the meet was an opportunity for the swimmers to practice competing skills they might not usually use. 

“We definitely do skill work in our practices, but it’s different when you get up and go off the blocks in competition versus doing it in training,” Kreitler said. “We had a lot of people race a lot of events today, but even a little bit fresher than practice to see how your race turns are, how your relay starts are — so it was great.”

Next up, Pitt will travel to State College to compete against Penn State from Oct. 25-26. 

Cross country

Pitt cross country traveled to Bethlehem for the 50th Lehigh Paul Short Run this weekend.

The women’s team competed in the gold 6k field and finished with 441 points. The men’s team competed in the gold 8k race and finished with 268 points.

The teams posted strong results, with the women’s team coming in 13th out of 41 teams, and the men’s team finishing in sixth out of 44 teams. 

The last time the Panthers competed in the Lehigh Paul Short Run was in 2019 when the women’s team took 19th place and the men’s team finished in 13th place. Pitt increased several places since that pre-COVID meet.

Senior Winnie Incorvaia finished first for the Pitt women, coming in 35th overall with a time of 20:50.5. Senior Quintin Gatons finished first for the Pitt men, placing 34th out of 394 runners.

Next up, cross country will have a two-week bye before traveling to Madison for the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals on Oct. 19. 

Softball

The Panthers had a clean sweep this weekend, with two home softball victories at Vartabedian Field. 

On Friday, Oct. 4, Pitt beat Saint Francis 21-9. During the 2023-2024 fall season, Pitt took on Saint Francis twice. The Panthers fell to the Red Flash in their first game 1-0 but came back for an 11-10 win in their second meeting. 

On Saturday, Oct. 5, Pitt easily defeated Robert Morris for a 10-3 win. 

Next up, Pitt softball will compete in the 2024 Little League Girls with Game Experience from Oct. 11-12 in Williamsport. Penn State, Maryland, Virginia and Pitt will all compete in Williamsport, but Pitt will only face in-state rival Penn State.