Men, women swimmers win two-day meet

The men’s and women’s swim teams took on athletes from Villanova and the universities of… The men’s and women’s swim teams took on athletes from Villanova and the universities of Maryland and Richmond this past weekend, chalking up five more wins at the College Park, Md., natatorium.

While the Panther men had no trouble trouncing their opponents from Maryland and Villanova, the women gradually swam past tougher competition out of Villanova from the Big East and from Richmond and Maryland’s non-conference teams.

The two-day quad meet sets the Panthers’ records to 5-2 for the men and 7-1 for the women on the season.

“On the second day, we were back and forth with the women,” head coach Chuck Noles said of the close and nerve-racking races between the female athletes.

The first bout of competition, including the first eight events of the meet, looked initially gloomy for the women.

With Pitt’s opening 100-yard medley relay losing to the Terrapins by only .05 seconds at 1 minute, 45.87 seconds, the women failed to assert their dominance until much later in the day.

Not until the women’s 100-meter backstroke did the lady Panthers find the winner’s circle, as senior Andrea Shoust glided to victory on the final yards of an almost even race, out-touching Terrapin Andrea Lehner’s 56.64 by .23 seconds.

The only other event of the day delivering the top points to the Panther women was the final 200-freestyle relay, with the team of Shoust, Stacie Safritt, Kelly O’Hara and Kristin Brown trampling the Maryland team.

Both Richmond and Villanova saw their winning hopes disappear as the Pitt ‘A’ team took the field with Pitt’s ‘B’ relay of Brittany Stevens, Colleen Sullivan, Sara Sullivan and Tiffany Malatesta close on their heels for a third place to round out the afternoon.

Day two turned the tide to Pitt’s side early on, as Kristin Brown garnered another of her perennial NCAA Championship B-cut times with a win in the 500 free. She carried this momentum into her next event, the 200 free, and finished a full second ahead of the pack with another B-cut of 1:50.17.

After suffering almost a complete shutout from points in the 200 butterfly, Shoust carried the day-two backstrokers to victory, winning the 200 back at 2:02.42 on top of Ryann Kishbaugh’s second place 2:05.63.

Although the Pitt women had guaranteed their victories over the Richmond and Villanova squads, the win against Maryland came down to the final event of the meet, the 400 free relay, easily captured by Brown, Safritt, Shoust and Lisa McDonnell by an impressive 2.63 seconds faster than Maryland’s 3:28.92.

The lady Panthers in the pool were also greatly helped by those in the air. Margo Ekstrom, Hanna Bratton and Alyssa Ferraro all put points on the board with their performances on their dives. Ekstrom led the 1M with a total of 238.90 points, and Bratton captured second on the 3M with 230.25.

“We kind of outclassed those programs,” Noles said, adding that Maryland’s lack of divers positioned the Panther women for their win of 185-161.

In addition to securing the meet against Maryland, the women trumped Richmond 216-136 and Villanova 214-138.

As for the men’s weekend in the pool, the races and the meet felt less intense competitive spirit, with Pitt’s men being much more well-funded and well-rounded than their Maryland and Villanova opponents.

However, this did not stop sophomore Adam Plutecki from impressing yet again in his 200 and 100 breastroke events.

After smashing the pool and school records in the 200 breast at last week’s meet against West Viginia, Plutecki topped his previous time with a solid NCAA A-cut of 1:57.06.

“This is the first time in my memory we’ve made an A-cut at a dual meet,” Noles said of Plutecki’s national-worthy swim.

The Polish wonder also broke the school 100-breastroke record with his impressive B-cut time of 54.10, a result good enough for a first place over Pitt’s second- and third-place finishes from Warren Barnes and Dave Montgomery.

Barnes and Montgomery also flanked Plutecki’s first in the 200 breast, securing the trio at the top of the podium, placing two and three again in the event.

Ultimately, Pitt dominated the longer stroke events, sweeping the gold, silver and bronze in the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly.

Senior Jeff Leath, who won the 100 back, led Steve Jackson and Patrick Bergin in the 200 back to clear the lanes with their first, second and third finishes, all under 1:55.

And, junior Chris George flew past his second- and third-place teammates Geoff Morgan and David Anderson with a final 1:54.93 in the 200 fly.

“This is really what we expect this time of year – fast swimming under tough circumstances,” Noles said of his two triumphant squads. “Anytime you can beat somebody at their own facility is great.”

And beat they did – not only did the swimmers cream the competition, Pitt divers Alex Volovetski and Jeremy Stultz went one-two in both the 1M and 3M. And along with their dives, Maryland pool records fell to Volovetski’s 1M total of 355.40 and Stultz’s huge 394.40 off the 3M.

The merciless performances from the Panther men led the team to score 242-110 over the Maryland men from the ACC and 293-59 over Villanova.