Faced with a must win situation, Pitt’s 200 free relay team touched the wall first by nearly two seconds to lead the women’s swimming and diving team to a 150-148 victory over No. 23 Notre Dame this evening at Trees Pool.
 
In their first-ever dual-meet win over the Irish, Pitt trailed Notre Dame as they headed into the final event of the meet. With every member of the 200 free swimming under a 24.00 split, the Panthers took the race with a time of 1:34.78.
 
Junior Stacie Safritt (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) led off the relay and jumped out to an early lead with a 23.48 split. Freshman Kristen McMullan (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) and sophomore Megan Sculley (Sinking Springs, Pa./Wilson/William and Mary) then maintained the lead, as senior Kelly O’Hara (Voorhees, N.J./Timber Creek) anchored the race with a 23.66 split.
 
Pitt’s B team of sophomore Sara Sullivan (Longmont, Colo./Longmont), seniors Colleen Sullivan (Alexandria, Va./Bishop Ireton) and Brittany Stevens (Peachtree City, Ga./Starr’s Mill/Florida State) and junior Agnes Mago (Kecskemet, Hungary/Bolyai Janos/Radford) combined for a second-place finish at the 1:36.68 mark.
 
Safritt was instrumental all day as she led the Panthers with two individual first-place finishes. She claimed a victory in 50 free (23.53) and 100 free (51.28), while O’Hara chipped in points with a third-place finish in the 50 free.
 
Safritt would later finish second in the 200 free, while Mago placed third in that event. Later in the meet, Mago finished second in the 500 free (5:00.73) and third in the 200 IM (2:07.66).
 
Stevens was another multi-event winner for Pitt, as she claimed first-place finishes in the 100 (56.59) and 200 fly (2:05.53).
 
Swimming events opened with a Notre Dame disqualification in the 400 medley relay. Pitt’s team of sophomore Ryann Kishbaugh (Danville, Pa./Danville Area), junior Ruth Seiffert (Boothwyn, Pa./Garnet Valley), Stevens and Sculley won the event with a time of 3:53.17.
 
The meet was tied after the 22nd event at 112, where freshman Cookie McIntyre (York, Pa./West York Area) touched the wall at 2:22.64 for second in the 200 breast. Seiffert then added points with a third-place finish in the same event.
 
Sophomore Margo Ekstrom (Erie, Pa./McDowell) led the divers with a top finish on the 1M board with a score of 162.80.
 
Pitt resumes action on Dec. 1 in the two-day Big Al Princeton swim meet and two-day Rutgers Diving Invitational.

Wins in nine events – including eight individual
victories  propelled the 17th-ranked Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving
team to a 169-131 win over Pittsburgh at Trees Pool on Friday evening.

Sophomores John Lytle and MacKenzie LeBlanc each racked up a pair of wins as
Lytle was also part of the winning 200 Free Relay squad to help give the
Irish (1-3) their first dual meet win of the season.

Notre Dame enjoyed its fourth straight win over the Panthers after dropping
the first seven meetings between the two programs. The Irish are now 4-4
against Pittsburgh under head coach Tim Welsh.

After a week of rest, the men will return to the pool as the team hosts
Cleveland State on Nov. 16 at the Rolfs Aquatic Center.

400 Medley Relay: Notre Dame took the second and third spots in the opening
relay … Andrew MacKay, Ross Moore, Ray Toomey, and Lytle were second in
3:26.14 … one spot back were Jeff Wood, Daniel Rave, LeBlanc, and Joshua
Nosal (3:30.21).

1,000 Free: Zach Phillips of Pittsburgh took the top spot in 9:36.79 …
Andrew Deters was Notre Dame’s highest finisher, coming in second with a
time of 9:42.26 … Steven Brus was fifth (9:51.27) and Christopher Douville
checked in at 9:51.95 … Rob Seery (9:58.22) followed with a sixth-place
finish.

200 Free: Nosal won the event in 1:43.25 and teammate Andrew Hoffman was the
next swimmer to touch the wall, leaving the pool with a 1:43.42 finish.

100 Back: Three Irish swimmers earned points in the event … second-place
finisher Wood had a time of 52.28 … Michael Sullivan (52.52) was third and
Bill Bauman (53.57) was fifth.

100 Breast: A third-place finish from Moore (58.61) and a fifth-place
completion by Daniel Rave (59.95) earned four points for Notre Dame.

200 Fly: LeBlanc led the pack in 1:51.83 … MacKay (1:56.43) finished behind
a third-place time of 1:54.89 by Christopher Wills.

50 Free: The first of Lytle’s two wins came with a time of 21.20 … Ray
Toomey (21.72) was third.

100 Free: Lytle (45.60) and Hoffman (46.26) were the top two finishers in
the event … Nosal was fourth with an effort of 47.92.

200 Back: Sullivan, a freshman, had a time of 1:50.59 to lead the field …
Wills was third in 1:53.73 … Wood got in on the scoring with a time of
1:55.74, which was good for fifth.

200 Breast: Rave (2:05.48) had a second-place finish and freshman Joseph
Raycroft was the next highest finisher for Notre Dame … he was fourth with a
time of 2:11.35.

500 Free: LeBlanc breezed through in 4:36.87 for his first-place finish …
Deters was third after touching the wall in 4:43.78 … Brus earned a point
with his fifth-place finish in 4:47.29.

100 Fly: Moore and Toomey finished first and second, respectively, with
times of 49.89 and 50.51.

200 Individual Medley: A time of 1:54.08 was good for a second-place finish
by Moore … Sullivan (1:57.29) and Wills (1:57.42) placed in the next two
spots.

200 Free Relay: Lytle, Hoffman, Nosal, and Toomey teamed for the fastest
time of the event in 1:24.60 … third-place went to the quartet of Bauman,
Wood, Thomas Van Volkenburg, and Seery … that crew notched a mark of
1:26.69.

3-meter Diving: Off the 3-meter board, Michael Bulfin collected 226.65
points for top medalist honors … Sam Stoner was second with 215.80 points …
Steven Crowe got in on the action by rounding out the scoring efforts with a
175.15 total.

1-meter Diving: Stoner (204.40) was second behind Pitts’ Alex Volovetski
(248.84) … the next two spots were staked by the Irish, as Eric Lex (193.95)
and Bulfin (189.35) secured points for the squad.