Men, women lose first of season to Notre Dame

South Bend once again proved to be inhospitable hosts to the Pitt swimming and diving teams…. South Bend once again proved to be inhospitable hosts to the Pitt swimming and diving teams.

For the third consecutive year, both the men and women’s squads were defeated at the hands of the Fighting Irish. Both teams dropped to 3-1 overall, with a 2-1 record in the Big East.

Despite the overall loss, several Panthers had spectacular performances.

On the men’s side, senior Jeff Leath earned three first-place finishes. He won an extremely tight race for the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.54 seconds.

Leath then made sure that his second event was never in question. He took first in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:49.10, nearly five seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Leath earned his final first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Leath, freshman Alex Kubicek, sophomore Patrick Mansfield, and freshman Rene Hjorth finished the event in 1:24.54.

Leath, however, also attained a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Leath, junior Warren Barnes, freshman Geoff Morgan and Kubicek clocked in at 1:33.28, less than a second behind the first place finishers.

Warren Barnes garnered a couple top finishes as well. First, he took the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 56.12 seconds. Later in the afternoon, Barnes finished first in the 200 breaststroke at 2:04.00.

Patrick Mansfield finished first in the 50-yard freestyle at 21.44 seconds. His relay teammate Alex Kubicek took third in the event, clocking in at 21.60.

The Panthers also received strong performances from three swimmers in the 200-yard butterfly. Junior David Anderson, sophomore Andy Kyrejko and Morgan finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Anderson led his teammates with a time of 1:54.49.

The divers once again turned out a phenomenal performance. Sophomore Aleksandr Volovetski finished first in both diving events.

He posted a 328.35 in the 1-meter boards and a 353.25 on the 3-meter boards. He has now won every diving competition in which he has participated this season.

Fellow sophomore Eric Becker finished sixth in the 1-meter with a 182.62 and seventh in the 3-meter boards at 164.91.

For the women, captains Kristin Brown and Andrea Shoust had four first-place finishes to lead their team.

Brown took first place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.31. She also won the 100 freestyle at 51.43 seconds. Both times marked season lows for the senior.

Brown garnered her final top finish in the 500 freestyle with an impressive 4:57.07 mark.

Shoust also posted a season low of her own. She won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:02.55.

Shoust also earned a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. She and teammates Ruth Seiffert, junior Brittany Stevens and freshman Stacie Safritt finished at 1:45.12. Notre Dame finished less than half a second ahead of Pitt at 1:44.91.

Junior Brittany Stevens joined her captains with a top finish in the 100-yard butterfly, clocking in at 57.12 seconds.

The freshman duo of Margo Eckstrom and Hanna Britton led the Panthers in both diving events.

Eckstrom and Britton finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 1-meter boards. Later, Eckstrom again finished one spot ahead of Britton as they posted fifth- and sixth-place performances in the 3-meter boards.

Pitt will travel to New Jersey on Dec. 1 for its next competition. Swimmers will participate in the three-day Princeton Invitational, while the divers will head to Piscataway to compete in the Rutgers Diving Invitational.