Swimming and Diving: Barnes and Lucas set school records at Blue-Gold meet

Jake Lucas and Laura Barnes both broke school records when the Pitt swimming and diving team… Jake Lucas and Laura Barnes both broke school records when the Pitt swimming and diving team held its Blue-Gold Meet Oct. 9.

“Both of Jake’s and Laura’s swims and records were very, very impressive,” coach Chuck Knoles said. “It’s a big deal, we make it a big deal with the kids. They understand what they’ve done is significant, and it gives them a springboard for the regular season.”

The Blue-Gold meet is a way to work out the team’s preseason kinks before the regular season started at St. Bonaventure on Oct. 17.

“It’s a meet that you do within your squad to give your freshmen a chance to see what it’s like to swim in a college meet,” Knoles said. “It gives you a chance to pick up on areas as a coach that need to be worked on before you get to real competition. It’s very similar to the spring football game, it’s very traditional.”

Lucas broke a seven-year meet record in the 100-meter freestyle, setting a time of 46.01 seconds. Mike Grube set the previous record at 46.06.

Barnes then got in on the record-breaking action by turning in a time of 2:19.11 in the 200-meter breast, almost a three-second improvement over the previous record set by Lindsey Tiberio in 2004.

In the 100-meter breast, Barnes also came in first, leading the Blue squad to a 142.5-132.5 victory over the Gold team.

In similar fashion, Lucas claimed two individual first-place performances: with a time of 50.99 in the 100-meter fly, and as a member of the 200-meter medley relay team to lead the men’s Blue team to a 152-117 victory in the meet.

Lucas, who is academically ineligible for the fall semester, set the freshman Pitt record last year and finished ninth in the Big East Championship in the 100-meter fly.

“Jake has done a great job growing up through his freshman year,” Knoles said. “He’s a great competitor and we expect him to have a phenomenal sophomore year when he rejoins us in January.”

Barnes, Knoles said, is building off her strong performance in last year’s Big East Championship.

“She had a school record in the 200-meter breast stroke at the Big East Championships,” Knoles said. “I think that gave her an idea of how successful she could actually be.”

The one constant between the two swimmers is their almost complete understanding of body positioning and speed.

“Both of them are very smart swimmers,” Knoles said. “They understand their bodies, where they are in relationship to the lanes. A big obstacle in swimming is getting over fighting for air and paying more attention to breathing than moving faster in the water.”

Since the Blue-Gold meet, Barnes and the women’s squad have had some early-season success. The women dominated against St. Bonaventure Oct. 17, winning every event en route to a 254-44 victory to start the season.

Barnes finished with a time of 2:26.91 in the 200-meter breast stroke, but Knoles acknowledged the pool at St. Bonaventure is more like a “typical high school pool,” making it a tough pool to swim in.

Freshman Liz Tabor was named Pitt’s performer of the meet, winning the day’s first event, the 1,000-meter free wall in 10:27.65. Joanna Budzis won the 200-meter freestyle (1:54.33) and 200-meter individual medley (2:10.07), and senior Ryann Kishbaugh won the 100-meter back (58.57) and 200-meter back stroke (2:04.78).

Margo Ekstrom won both diving events, taking the 1-meter with 246.97 points and the 3-meter with a score of 261.45.

On the men’s side, freshman Hussein Medhat Mohamed was Pitt’s top performer of the meet, taking the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle in the men’s 159-139 victory against St. Bonaventure.

Mohamed was also part of the Pitt’s winning 400-meter freestyle relay team, along with Alex Kubicek, Andrzej Dubiel and Justin Corvin. Dubiel also won the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke.

Zane McLain won both diving events, scoring 279.30 points on the 1-meter board and 260.85 points on the 3-meter board.

The Panthers next meet is home against Louisville on Nov. 7 at 4 p.m.