Panthers drown Bearcats

Entering the top 25 over a week ago wasn’t enough for Pitt’s men’s swimming and diving team…. Entering the top 25 over a week ago wasn’t enough for Pitt’s men’s swimming and diving team.

They just keep on winning.

And they did so this time with a welcome to the Big East for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Pitt (7-1 overall, 4-1 Big East) picked up its latest win over the weekend in its final Big East meet of the season – a 170-63 victory over the visiting Bearcats.

The Panthers swept the meet as well, pulling out a 180-55 win by the women’s team.

The matchup was Pitt’s first against Cincinnati, which is participating in its inaugural season as a member of the Big East.

The Panthers swept a number of events in both women’s and men’s competitions as head coach Chuck Knowles believed the Bearcats looked better on paper when going through his reports beforehand.

“I was a little surprised how flat Cincinnati looked on Saturday,” he said. “We expected a lot more races from them, but our kids were obviously ready to swim fast.”

Thomas Bird, Warren Barnes, Jason Miller and Darryl Washington began the meet with a Panthers victory in the 400-medley relay, defeating the Bearcats by half a second with a time of 3:22.06.

Pitt’s first sweep came in the 1000 free as freshman John Buchanan touched first, followed by teammates Steve Jackson and Scott Shearer.

The Bearcats captured first place in the next two events. Marcel Kleiner took the 200 free in front of Pitt’s Nathan McCutcheon. In the 200 IM, Cincinnati’s David Gustavsson finished first by 13 hundredths of a second.

Pitt responded, winning six of the final seven events in dominating fashion.

Chris George led the way as the Panthers swept the 200 fly, while Bird and Washington secured their second first-place finishes in the 50 and 100 free, respectively.

Barnes also finished with two first-place finishes on the day when he secured victory in the 200 breast, as Jeff Leath narrowly beat out Cincinnati’s Bjorn Mates in the 200 back by less than half a second.

“Their numbers were down,” Knowles said of Cincinnati’s performance. “So that affected how they swam.”

The women’s team also opened up with a win in the 400-medley relay. Andrea Shoust, Ruth Seiffert, Brittany Stevens and Jordan Wallace combined for a winning time of 3:49.92.

A second win came later for Shoust in the 200 back with a time of 2:02.84, while Kristin Brown and Seiffert took first and second in the 500 free.

Kathy Suida recorded three first-place victories for Pitt on the day. A 13-second advantage in the 1000 free won her first title, and a time of 2:07.95 brought in her second during the 200 IM. She later took first in the 200 breast.

Brown won her first meet of the day in the 200 free at 1:50.63, defeating her second-place teammate, Kelly Redcay, by 2.15 seconds.

Wallace and Stacie Safritt captured first and second place for the Panthers in the 50 free, and came right back – along with Redcay – to sweep the 100 free in their favor.

“That was the first time we’ve gotten to swim against Cincinnati,” Knowles said, “and they looked faster on paper than they actually were in the meet.”

The Panthers never let up, finishing off the day by winning the final event – the 400-free relay. Brown, Safritt and Kelly O’Hara teamed for the win, touching for a finish of 3:29.09.

This weekend, Pitt resumes action as it travels to the state of Virginia for two meets – against Virginia Tech on Saturday in Blacksburg and with Virginia on Sunday in Charlottesville.

“Virginia Tech will be a nice challenge for both men and women, and Virginia definitely will be,” Knowles said of the upcoming schedule. “It’s going to be an exciting weekend of competition.”