Swimming and diving prepares for Big East

It wouldn’t make sense for any athletics team to look past one competition to another, but… It wouldn’t make sense for any athletics team to look past one competition to another, but Pitt made it no secret yesterday that their focus was on the Big East Championship meet later this month.

Swimming his athletes in different events than their usual ones, mixing up relay teams, and even letting members of the men’s diving team compete in a swimming event all showed that head coach Chuck Knoles and his bunch were out to have fun on Senior Day, their last meet before the conference championships.

The Panthers didn’t struggle on the way to routs on the men’s and women’s sides. The men blew out both Duquesne (216-46) and Clarion (207.5-73.5). The women kept pace, beating the pair of opponents 232-54 and 208-88, respectively.

Knoles acknowledged that, while the wins were important, they weren’t the focus of this day.

“It’s just a down week,” he explained. “We switch things up because kids are trying to get their cuts for Big East.”

The double victory for the men meant a final record of 10-3 this season, marking the first time in team history that Pitt has had back-to-back 10-win seasons.

Multiple winners for the Panthers included Jason Miller, who took the 50- and 100-yard freestyles and Tommy Bird, who also turned in a big day by winning the 100 back and the 100 butterfly. Bird was also part of the first-place team in the 200 medley relay and teamed with Miller and two others for the last race of the day, which turned out to be the most exciting event of the meet.

Miller, Bird, Darryl Washington and Eric Bugby made a serious run at the pool record. In the end, they swam a 1 minute, 21.59 second time, just missing the record mark of 1:21.15.

In diving competition, Jeremy Stultz won the 1-meter event, while Dennis Nemtsanov won the 3-meter.

Like the men’s squad, the women’s team upped their win total to 10, giving them an identical 10-3 record. They haven’t had a 10-win season since 1987-88.

Andrea Shoust led the way, winning both the 100 and 200 backstrokes. She also teamed with Kristin Brown, Cynthia Snyder and Jen Koch to win the 200 medley relay to open the swimming portion of the meet.

Both Brown and Koch went on to win individual events as well. Brown took first in the 500 freestyle, while Koch won the 100 butterfly.

On the diving board, Megan McCandless notched a win in the 3-meter. Colleen Kristobak earned the victory on the 1-meter board, her first since an injury suffered in the Panthers’ meet against West Virginia.

For Stephen Kilroy and his fellow seniors, it was their last meet in Trees Pool, but don’t look for them to get emotional about it just yet.

“Today was exciting,” he said. “I probably won’t get upset [about this being my last meet] until after Big East.”

Fellow senior Koch echoed his sentiments.

“It’s bittersweet, ending something I’ve done for 16 years,” she admitted. She went on to confirm what was a running theme among the teammates — with the close of the regular season, all eyes now drift to the Big East meet and stay fixed there until the competition (Feb. 17-19).

Koch said she wants to improve upon her performance from last year, while the women as a team look to capture their first title since 1991. The men, on the other hand, have won every title since 1997, although this year some are predicting that Notre Dame will dethrone the Panthers. Kilroy and his teammates are prepared to prove them wrong.

“It’s different this year, being the underdog,” he said. “But I like that. I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people.”