Olympic sports all see success in weekend action

It was an eventful weekend for the Pitt varsity sports teams. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams fell to Syracuse in close matchups, while the Pitt wrestling team upset the fifth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. But there were three other teams in action this weekend, and all three fared quite well.

Track and field

For the second weekend in a row, the men’s and women’s indoor track and field team trekked to State College, Pa., this time to compete in a series of individual competitions as part of the annual Nittany Lion Challenge. 

The highlight of the meet for the Panthers came when Carvin Nkanata broke the 400-meter dash meet record with a time of 46.36 seconds, tying the NCAA record in the process.

Along with Nkanata’s impressive achievement, sophomore Evann Thompson set the women’s school record in the 600-meter dash, securing a time of 1:30.98, more than two seconds faster than the previous record. The Panthers also saw Cayla Del Piano become the first Pitt women’s runner since 2005 to run a sub-five-minute mile, finishing with a time of 4:58.60.

Coach Alonzo Webb was pleased with the results.

“Overall, it was a really good meet for us. We’re moving in the right direction, and we’re doing the right things,” Webb said. “I was impressed by how far along some of the athletes have progressed so far this season.”

Gymnastics

The Pitt gymnastics team avenged a loss from a year ago by defeating the No. 25 Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing on Saturday, 193.025-192.525.

The Panthers were led by seniors Brittney Harris and Katie O’Rourke, as well as sophomore Lindsay Offutt. Harris placed first in the vault, O’Rourke tied for first on the beam and Offutt won the floor exercise (O’Rourke placed third in that event, as well). All three won those events for the second consecutive week.

Despite describing the victory as “a nice road win, but not a pretty win,” head coach Debbie Yohman was content with the meet, particularly with her three first-place finishers.

“Brit [Harris], Katie [O’Rourke] and Lindsay [Offutt] pretty much owned their events once again,” Yohman said. “As a team, we just keep getting better little by little, day by day.”

Swimming and diving

Both the men’s and women’s Pitt swimming and diving teams enjoyed impressive performances on Saturday, as the men defeated Denison 226-74 while the two split-squad women’s teams defeated Denison 237-63 and James Madison 167-133 at Trees Pool.

The Panthers had tremendous success all across the meet, but particularly in diving. Sophomore Samantha Winkelmann won the 3-meter dive event, scoring a 258.50, the fourth-best score for Pitt this season. For the men, freshman Tony Galante and junior Harry Bergman won 3-meter and 1-meter events, respectively.

“The divers did a tremendous job,” said Pitt coach Chuck Knoles. “It was really fun to watch them dominate the boards.”

Other winners for the Panthers included senior Veronica Lee, who won both the 100- and 200-yard fly, junior Dani des Tombe, who won the 100- and 200-yard freestyle, and sophomore David Sweeney, who won the 50-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle events while also being part of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team.