Swimming and diving: Panthers find success in weekend meet

Pitt’s men’s swimming team outlasted Penn State and Maryland to finish in first place and… Pitt’s men’s swimming team outlasted Penn State and Maryland to finish in first place and earn a Panthers victory in last weekend’s two-day meet at Trees Pool.

The men’s team improved to 4-3 on the season, thanks to 253-100 and 197-156 victories over Maryland and Penn State, respectively.

Both the men’s and women’s squads take the short ride down Forbes Avenue to play Duquesne this Saturday.

The Pitt men’s relay teams paced the Panthers on the day. In the final event of the meet, the 400-meter freestyle relay team of sophomore Jake Lucas, sophomore Otto Pagel, senior Justin Corvin and junior Andrzej Dubiel took first place after claiming the lead on the final lap.

Dubiel anchored the relay team on the final lap, recording a split time of 44.29 seconds.

Earlier in the meet, the 400-meter medley relay team finished second in the first swimming event of the day. Lucas, Dubiel, senior Jonathan Buchanan and freshman Adam Maczewski recorded a time of 3 minutes, 21.83 seconds.

The Panthers swept two events on the day. Junior Zane McLain placed first on the 1M board to open the meet. McLain scored a 315.80, while teammates junior Collin Forner (277.10) and junior Charles Hauser (256.55) placed second and third.

Lucas was the first of three Panthers to finish the 50-meter freestyle. Lucas won the event at 21.07 and Pagel placed second. Corvin finished third overall in the event, winning the first heat at 21.26.

Buchanan and Maczewski won Performers of the Meet honors. Buchanan won the 200-meter individual medley with a season-best time of 1:53.52 and placed third in the 200-meter breaststroke.

The victories were Pitt’s first wins over Penn State since 2003-04 (125-118) and the first over Maryland since 2007-08 (178-170).

Junior Laura Barnes and freshman Kelsey Herbst earned Performers of the Meet honors on the women’s side.

Barnes recorded two first-place finishes Saturday and became the only Panther to record a first-place finish on the day. She won the 100-meter breaststroke with a season-best time of 1:03.89.

Barnes also swam the second leg of the 200-meter medley relay race to start the events. Her split in the relay was 29.37 in the 50-meter breaststroke.

Herbst recorded a team-best time of 4:56.77 in a first-place finish in the 500-meter freestyle.

The Pitt women’s team finished third in its meet Saturday, beating Villanova (276.5-76.5) but losing to Penn State (194-159) and Maryland (181-172). The women improved to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play.