Women bounce back at Princeton

The Pitt men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dove back into competition with meets… The Pitt men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams dove back into competition with meets against Princeton on Jan. 4 and West Virginia on Jan. 8. The women swam away with two lopsided victories.

The men were 1-1 in the stretch, losing to Princeton.

Head coach Chuck Knoles explained that the Panthers, after a tough loss to Virginia on Dec. 4, needed to decide whether or not they were going to work hard enough to become a competitive Division I program. He then took his teams to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for a training session, uncertain what their choice would be.

Together, both teams showed that they were ready to get back to winning with successful meets.

Pitt vs. Princeton

The women (5-2) dominated on a day the men struggled. The men (4-3) fell to Princeton 141-102, while the women blew out the Tigers 213-87 in Princeton’s home pool.

The women won the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet and never looked back. Three Panthers went on to have big days.

Andrea Shoust swept the backstroke events, winning both the 100 and 200. Lindsey Tiberio matched Shoust by winning the 100 and 200 breaststroke contests.

Kristin Brown, another member of the relay team, took the 50 and 200 freestyles. Her time of 1 minute, 50.34 seconds in the 200 set a new school record, breaking Carolyne Savini’s old mark by more than half a second. In 2003, Savini swam a 1:50.89 in the event.

Brown becomes the third women’s team swimmer to break a record this season, joining sophomores Tiberio and Kathy Siuda.

Siuda also contributed in a big way, winning the 500 and 1000 freestyles and the 200 individual medley.

Knoles was ecstatic about the women’s victory, as well as the several repeat winners. When asked if the Florida trip had gotten his swimmers into the kind of shape he had wanted, Knoles didn’t miss a beat.

“Absolutely no question,” he said. “We didn’t have any bad races.”

The men, too, did not have any bad races, but they still fell short of the Tigers by 39 points. The men, led by diver Dennis Nemtsanov, a winner in the 1- and 3-meter diving events, outscored the Tigers 31-7 on the diving board, but could not match their opponent’s performance in the swimming events.

Chris George won the 1000 freestyle, while Jason Miller squeaked out a win in the 200 butterfly by .03 seconds. Jeff Leath and Warren Barnes also added wins in the 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke, respectively. However, the final was decided not by the number of first-place performances, but by the second- and third-place swimmers. The Panthers’ depth was no match for Princeton’s.

Pitt vs. West Virginia

The women continued their dominance on the scoreboard, taking out the Mountaineers 180-62 on Saturday. The men’s team bounced back and ended their two-game losing streak with a 106.5-82.5 win over West Virginia.

In the 3-meter diving event, Colleen Kristobak, who has been one of the best divers in the Big East so far this season, hit her head on the board mid-dive. She left the meet to receive treatment for a deep wound on her forehead.

The Panthers refused to be deterred by the tragedy, however, winning every event except the 100 and 200 freestyles. Jennifer Koch set the pace in the pool, winning the 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley. Kate Butrie also added to the victory, blowing away the 1000 freestyle field to win by more than seven seconds.

On the men’s side, Miller and West Virginia’s Pablo Marmolejo provided the excitement in the dual meet.

In both the 200 IM and the 200 butterfly, the two went stroke-for-stroke for the first 150 yards. The IM saw Miller pull away, his freestyle splits proving to be the difference in the race. The two traded places in the 200 butterfly, as Marmolejo hit the accelerator with 50 yards to go to pull out the win.

George continued what has been a pleasantly surprising freshman campaign, winning the 1000 and 500 freestyles.

Knoles has enjoyed watching his rookie come along.

“[We in] no way expected he would be this successful when we signed him,” he said.

George is also pleased with his early performance.

“I figured it’d take me a while to get used to the format of the meets,” he admitted. “It’s a lot different than high school.”

The Panthers return to action Jan. 14 and 15, when they face Maryland, North Carolina State and Villanova in College Park, Md.