Both the men and women’s swimming and diving teams kicked off the New Year by defeating… Both the men and women’s swimming and diving teams kicked off the New Year by defeating conference rival West Virginia on Saturday. The Panthers’ record improves 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big East.

“Both teams really stepped it up and competed very well for their first competition since November. It was especially a challenge on the men’s side because West Virginia has a very good men’s team,” assistant coach Jeff Berghoff said.

The men’s squad won seven events in a 133-104 win over the Mountaineers. The men’s 400-medley relay team, consisting of Thomas Bird, Warren Barnes, Jason Miller and Darryl Washington, started off the meet by claiming first place at 3:20.28.

Miller also finished first in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:51.49 and his co-captain, Washington, claimed a win in the 100 free (46.00) and took second in the 50 free with a time of 20.87.

In the 200 free, junior Nathan McCutcheon captured first place at 1:44.33. Right behind him was junior Jeff Leath, who clocked in at 1:44.78. Sophomore Steve Jackson followed at 1:46.53.

Later, in the 200 back, Leath stopped the clock at 1:51.56.

Freshman Chris Howard came in second place in the 200 fly at 1:54.24. Following Howard were teammates, sophomore Chris George, McCutcheon, Jackson and sophomore Scott Shearer, who finished second through fifth, respectively.

In the 200 breast, the final individual swimming race, Barnes earned silver.

As for diving, sophomore Jeremy Stultz won first place in the 1-meter and senior Adam Natishyn came in second. In the 3-meter boards, however, roles were reversed when Natishyn captured first and Stultz finished second.

In even more convincing fashion, the women’s team claimed a 164-79 victory over West Virginia.

At the beginning of the meet, the 400-medley relay team, consisting of junior Andrea Shoust, freshman Ruth Seiffert, sophomore Brittany Stevens and freshman Stacie Safritt, stopped the clock at 3:52.69. In the same event, the team made up of freshmen Laura Ronsenberg and Karla Leite and juniors Sarah Wagner and Kelly O’Hara came in second place at 4:00.61.

In the 200-freestyle, junior captain Kristin Brown came in first place at 1:50.79 and Safritt claimed third place at 1:54.94.

Brown continued to lead the Panthers in the 500 free, with her time of 4:59.42. Leite finished at 5:18.79 in fourth. In the next event, Seiffert, Leite and freshman Erika Rodriguez came in second through fourth in the 200 breast.

Next, in the 50 free, seniors Jordan Wallace and Kelly Redcay finished at the top, recording times at 23.84 and 24.37, respectively. The duo later finished first and second in the 100 free. Wallace finished at 52.47 and Redcay at 52.80.

Senior captain Amy Miteff, along with Seiffert and Rosenberg took first through third place in the 400IM. Miteff also finished second in the 100 free at 10:22.16.

In the last swimming event, Wallace, Redcay, Safritt and Brown claimed a first-place victory in the 400 relay.

In diving action, sophomore Megan McCandless finished first in the 1M boards, while freshman Kaylee Riggs took third. In the 3M dives, McCandless took second and freshman Naomi Orlando and Riggs finished in third and fourth.

Editor’s note: Members of the swimming and diving squad also competed in the Georgia Invitational last weekend. Check out the results on www.pittnews.com .