Men and women swim past St. Bonaventure and Syracuse

The Pitt men’s swimming and diving team has won seven straight Big East Championships. But,… The Pitt men’s swimming and diving team has won seven straight Big East Championships. But, as the old saying goes, what have you done for me lately?

How about Pitt scoring more than twice as many points as its opponents in two road meets this weekend?

The Panthers (2-0, 1-0 Big East) defeated St. Bonaventure 162-72 on Friday and Syracuse 165-78 on Saturday.

The women’s team also chalked up two wins, 153-84 over the Bonnies and 140.5-95.5 against the Orangewomen.

Pitt men 162, St. Bonaventure 72

The Bonnies took first in the 100-yard breaststroke. And that was all they took. Pitt held the top time in every other event, including the last race of the meet, in which the Panthers entered only exhibition competitors because they had already clinched a victory.

The Panthers began the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay.

Next, senior Eric Limkemann won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of nine minutes, 35.14 seconds. Limkemann also took first in the 500-yard freestyle.

Fellow senior Adam Webber secured victories in the 400-yard individual medley and 100-yard freestyle.

In the 200-yard freestyle, sophomore Andrew Patrizzi came out on top, with a time of 1:45.29.

The Panthers cruised to victory with wins from Thomas Bird in the 50-yard freestyle, Jason Miller in the 100-yard butterfly, Jeff Leath in the 100-yard backstroke and Matthew Schwartz in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.

Pitt women 153, St. Bonaventure 84

The Pitt women’s team (2-0, 1-0 Big East) won all 11 swimming events, but the Bonnies captured the two diving events in the Panthers’ first win of the season.

Senior Jenny Livingstone took first in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Carolyne Savini took first with a time of 1:53.30.

Junior Jen Koch won the 400-yard individual medley for Pitt; she was followed by two other Panthers in second and third.

Sophomore Kate Butrie won the distance events for the Panthers with times of 10:22.46 in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 5:06.67 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Following Butrie’s performance in the 500-yard event, Pitt entered exhibition swimmers in the final two races, having already clinched a victory.

Pitt men 165, Syracuse 78

The meet began with Syracuse winning the 400-yard medley relay.

After that, Pitt won 10 straight events, starting with the 1,000-yard freestyle and concluding with the 3-meter diving.

The Orangemen broke the Panthers’ streak when freshman Luk Boral won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:03.84.

Pitt ended the meet with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The men’s team is next in action on Nov. 8, at home against Texas A’M.

Pitt women 140.5, Syracuse 95.5

The Panthers and Orangewomen traded blows on Saturday, when the Pitt women’s team swam and dove its way to a Big East win.

Pitt captured the heavily weighted first-place points in both relays.

The Panthers also won the 1,000-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke and both diving events.

In the 100-yard freestyle, a tie occurred between Pitt and Syracuse for first place.

The tie resulted in a splitting of the points awarded to each team.

The women’s aquatics team next competes on Nov. 7 at Notre Dame.