Panthers swim to decency

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both traveled to New Jersey over the… The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both traveled to New Jersey over the weekend, but once in the Garden State, went their separate ways. The swim team went to Princeton for the Big Al Princeton Invitational while the diving team headed to Piscataway for the Galbraith Diving Invitational held at Rutgers.

The men’s swimming team finished fourth in the invitational and the women finished third.

“We had quite a few really good swims from both teams,” Pitt head coach Chuck Knoles said. “It was a very rewarding meet. I was very, very pleased.”

The Virginia Cavaliers would end the weekend with first place finishes by their men and women.

After day one of the Princeton Invitational, the men were in fourth place with a total score of 129, while the women faired a bit better and ended day one in second place with 219 points.

Day two saw a few impressive performances from members of both Panther squads.

Junior Warren Barnes earned an NCAA B cut time in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking in at 54.55. In the same event, junior Dave Montgomery finished fifth.

Senior Jeff Learth would finish second in the 100-yard backstroke, but the men didn’t move in the standings and ended day two still in fourth place.

On the women’s side, some impressive individual performance couldn’t keep the Panthers from falling from second to third place at the end of day two.

Senior Kristin Brown finished first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.91, which also happened to be an NCAA B cut time.

Sophomore Agnes Mago finished second in the 400-yard individual medley. Her time, 4:19.73, was not only an NCAA B cut time, but also a school record.

Freshman Lisa McDonnell finished second in the 100-yard backstroke at 56.24. She beat out her teammates senior Andrea Shoust and freshman Ryan Kishbaugh, who finished in third and seventh, respectively.

On the last day of the meet, Learth earned an NCAA B cut time in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing first with a time of 1:46.90.

Another NCAA B cut time came from Barnes in the 200-yard breaststroke, when he scored a second-place finish at 2:00.04.

The men also tallied a fourth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay when the team of Learth, sophomores Patrick Mansfield and Andy Kyrejko and freshman Alex Kubicek clocked in with a time of 3:04.35.

The men’s team ended the invitational in fourth with a point total of 417.

In the 100-yard freestyle, the women’s team made a strong showing when they captured three of the top five spots. Brown recorded another NCAA B cut time, finishing in a tie for second at 50.56. Sophomore Stacie Safritt and McDonnell came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, the team of Brown, McDonnell, Mago and Safritt would earn an NCAA B cut time with their second-place finish at 3:23.36.

Totaling 660.5 points over the weekend, the women’s team finished in third place.

Knoles was pleased with the way his team battled against some of the nation’s top teams, such as Tennessee, Rutgers and Virginia.

“That was the whole point of the competition – to give our kids a meet where they were going to have to really sink their teeth in and try to chew as much as they could to get their best swims.

“I would say we had about 95 percent of the swimmers had either lifetime best or season-best swims.”

At Rutgers, multiple Panther divers performed well over the course of the three-day invitational.

After finishing in second on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards against Notre Dame in Pitt’s last match, Aleksandr Volovetski returned to a spot he has become accustomed to this season – first place.

The sophomore has finished first in every diving competition he has competed in, except for the Notre Dame match. At Rutgers, he won the 1-meter board at 324.00, and the 3-meter board with a score of 349.45.

In his first meet back from a shoulder injury, junior Jeremy Stultz earned a score of 295.45 in the 1-meter board, which was good enough to finish second. He also placed fifth in the 3-meter board at 274.95.

None of the three freshmen female divers – Hanna Bratton, Margo Ekstrom and Alyssa Ferraro – placed in their events, but Knoles saw a few things from them to suggest a bright future for all.

“Our girls didn’t place, but they dove solidly, and we’re expecting great improvements in them between now and February.”

Up next, the Panthers will compete in the Pittsburgh Invitational during the weekend of Dec. 15-17, where Knoles thinks his team will only show more improvement.

“We’re heading in the right direction, and we’re just getting better. We’re not a great team yet, but we’re heading in that direction.”