Pittsburgh Sweeps West Virginia

Several individual first place finishes lead Pitt’s men’s swimming and diving team to a 21-point victory over the 2007 Big East Champion West Virginia squad. The Panthers earned a 131-110 win on the road and improved to 4-1 on the season.
 
The 400 medley relay team opened the meet with a strong performance and set the tone, as they garnered a first-place finish after stopping the clock at the 3:23.36 mark.
 
The relay consisted of freshman Andrzej Dubiel (Dzierzoniow, Poland/School of Sport Championship), senior Warren Barnes (Pickering, Ont./Dunbarton), junior Adam Plutecki (Zielona Gora, Poland/Zielona Gora) and junior Pat Mansfield (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne).
 
Senior Chris George (Jacksonville, Fla./The Bolles School) and freshman Alex McLaren (North Saanich, B.C./Stellys Secondary) also won swimming events in the meet.
 
George tallied a top finish when he touched the wall at 1:56.60 in the 200 fly, while junior Andy Kyrejko (West Orange, N.J./The Montclair Kimberly Academy) trailed just behind for second in the same event.
 
Winning the 200 free, McLaren stopped the clock at 1:44.67, while Kyrejko placed third in that race.
 
The Panthers earned a bulk of their point in the diving events. Junior Alex Volovetski (Brandon, Fla./Armwood) won the 1M board with 388.42 points, while senior Jeremy Stultz (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) finished second with a score of 326.62. Earning third on the board was freshman Zane McLain (York, Pa./Dallastown Area).
 
Later the Panthers also swept the 3M event. Volovetski took first, Stultz was second and freshman Colin Forner (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) rounded out the top three.
 
Pitt returns to Trees Pool on Friday, Jan. 12, for a two-day meet against Maryland, Villanova and Penn State.

As they did earlier in the season, the women’s swimming and diving team kept their undefeated season alive with a first-place finish in the final event of the meet. The Panthers improved to 5-0, as they earn a 124-119 win on the road against conference foe West Virginia. This is the first time since the 1995-96 season, the Panthers have opened the season with a 5-0 record.
 
As the final event began, the Panthers trailed 115-111, needing a first-place finish to win the meet. The 400 free relay team of junior Agnes Mago (Kecskemet, Hungary/Bolyai Janos/Radford), sophomore Lisa McDonnell (Columbia, Pa./Hempfield), sophomore Megan Sculley (Sinking Springs, Pa./Wilson/William and Mary) and junior Stacie Safritt (Cranberry Township. Pa./Seneca Valley) delivered just that as they edged out the Mountaineers with a time of 3:29.15. The Panthers final time was just 23 hundreds of a second faster than the second-place finish of 3:29.38.
 
From the relay team, Mago claimed two individual first-place finishes in the meet. She first won the 200 IM for the Panthers with a time of 2:07.81, while classmate Ruth Seiffert (Boothwyn, Pa./Garnet Valley) touched the wall at 2:11.27 in the same event for third. Later, Mago won the 500 free when she stopped the clock at 5:01.07.
 
The Panthers also turned in top finishes from sophomore Hanna Bratton (Lincoln, R.I./Moses Brown) and freshman Cookie McIntyre (York, Pa./West York Area).
 
Bratton earned the top score on the 3M board with 225.00 points, while McIntyre stopped the clock at the 2:06.30 mark in the 200 fly for first place.
 
Pitt returns to Trees Pool on Friday, Jan. 12, for a two-day meet against Maryland, Villanova and Penn State.

The West Virginia University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams fell to BIG EAST rival Pitt, this afternoon at the WVU Natatorium.
 
The Panthers defeated the Mountaineers by a score of 131-110 on the men’s side and 124-119 on the women’s.
 
Despite the loss, the Mountaineers had several highlights throughout the day including 15 wins out of 26 events.
 
Senior Nick Delic and sophomore Michael Walker led the men’s side capturing two first place finishes a piece. Delic took first in the 50 free (21.03) and the 100 (45.57), while Walker captured wins in 200 IM (1:51.33) and in the 200 back (1:52.46).
 
On the women’s side sophomores Morgan Callaway and Kayla Andrews also captured two wins a piece. Callaway posted wins in the 200 free (1:15.69) and the 200 back (2:02.63), while Andrews took first in the 50 free (23.82) and in the 100 free (50.67).
 
Also posting big wins were junior Lindsay Largo and sophomore Justin Galbreath, who both took first in the 1000 free. Largo finished with a time of 10.11.79, while Galbreath finished in 9:34.82. In the 200 breast event, senior Kevin Donohue captured a first place finish in his last home meet, with a time of 2:01.15. Sophomore Kitti Veisz also won the 200 breast in record setting fashion as she broke the Natatorium record, with a time of 2:18.67. The previous record of 2:20.33 was set in 1997.
 
The Mountaineers also did well in the relay events posting wins in the men’s 400 free relay (3:07.69) and in the women’s 400 medley relay (3:53.19).
 
In diving, sophomore Ashley Malik took first in the women’s 1 mtr dive with a score of 228. Malik also place second in the 3 mtr dive with a score of 219.14, while senior Erica Pfeifer followed in third with 213.44 points.
 
The Mountaineers will close out the regular season as they travel to South Bend, Ind., to compete in the Shamrock Invitational on Friday, Jan. 25 – Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Rolfs Aquatic Center.