Men’s Swimming upsets Penn State

The No. 19 Pitt men’s swimming and diving team upset the No. 17 Penn State Nittany Lions at… The No. 19 Pitt men’s swimming and diving team upset the No. 17 Penn State Nittany Lions at Trees Pool on Friday night despite the Nittany Lions winning seven of 13 events in the meet.

Penn State’s women’s team turned in a dominant performance as it won 12 out of 13 events in its victory over the Panthers.

Pitt 128, Penn State 115 (men)

The Panthers (9-4 overall, 4-0 Big East) won just six out of 13 events but was still able to pull out a victory over the Nittany Lions.

Dennis Nemtsanov got things rolling for the Panthers as he won the 3-meter diving competition. Nemtsanov had 326.48 points, which was just enough to defeat Penn State’s Marc Gastaldo who had 320.85.

Matthew Schwartz won the 1-meter dive with 313.87 points and Nemtsanov came in second with 299.02 points.

“Thankfully we [the swim team] combined points with Julian Krug and the diving squad [which] helped to win the meet for us,” head coach Chuck Knoles said.

The Panthers enjoyed a lead for a short period of time. The Nittany Lions began to inch closer as they won the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3 minutes, 21.18 seconds. Penn States’ John Lutz, Dan Velez, Matt Haupt and Eugene Botes represented the Nittany Lions in the 400 medley relay.

Pitt’s team, which was made up of Michael Bernardi, Steve Marcucio, Jason Miller and Mike Grube, set the third best time of the season at 3:23.75.

Junior Eric Limkemann won the 1,000-yard freestyle over Eric Gordon of Penn State in 9:17:46 compared to Gordon’s time of 9:26.74.

After failing to place first in the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle, Ken Shelhorse put Pitt back on top with first place finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:50.06. Limkemann followed with a first place finish of his own in the 500-yard freestyle as he finished with a time of 4:30.85.

The Panthers were able to clinch the meet despite lacking a first place finisher in the 200-yard breaststroke. Pitt finished second, third and fourth in the event. Penn State won the 400-yard freestyle relay, but it was not enough to unseat the Panthers.

“It was a pleasant surprise,” Knoles said. “We expected to win although I didn’t expect to win before the final relay.”

Penn State 159, Pitt 84 (women)

The Pitt women’s swimming and diving team did not fare as well as the men’s team as Penn State proved to be too much for the Panthers in the 159-84 loss.

Pitt (6-7, 3-1) only won one of 13 events. The Panthers were victorious in the 50-yard freestyle as Jenny Livingstone placed first with a finishing time of 24.09 seconds.

The Nittany Lions’ Lisa Silvestri captured first place honors in both of the diving events. Silvestri had 280.2 points in the 1-meter competition and 313.27 in the 3-meter dive.

The Panthers’ Colleen Kristobak finished second with 263.7 points in the 1-meter dive and finished third from the 3-meter board with 260.47 points.

Penn State won the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:46.14 despite Pitt finishing the race in 3:53.25, which is its second fastest time this season. Kelli Krallman, Kelli Tielking, Ryan Redman and Kristin Criner swam in the relay for the Panthers.

Pitt also set its second fastest finish of the season in the 400-yard freestyle relay but once again was unable to claim the victory. Livingstone, Carolyne Savini, Kelly Redcay and Criner finished the relay in 3:31.34 for the Panthers.

Pitt is next in action in the Big East Championships in Long Island, N.Y., Feb. 20 to 22.

“Our main focus is going to be the Big East Championships next week. On the men’s side I would expect that we would be going in as the favorite,” Knoles said. “On the women’s side everything is [fair] game. We might come home with a trophy and they only give a trophy to first and second place.”