Pittsburgh
The Pitt men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams turned in a strong first day at the Big Al Invite to land the women in the lead and men in second amidst a strong field of competitors Friday at DeNunzio Pool.
“I was very pleased with the results today,” said head coach Chuck Knoles. “Our kids put themselves in a position this morning to come back and score at finals tonight and that’s exactly what they did. The kids are swimming really fast – so well in fact, that it’s hard to pick the four fastest people for relays. We’ve had a great meet so far, and I’m looking forward to another full day of competition tomorrow and seeing how we handle a full slate of events tomorrow morning.”
Junior diver Dom Giordano made his now-customary mark on the boards of DeNunzio Pool by putting his name in the facility record books. His winning score of 387.30 in the 1-meter competition upended the mark of 367.95 set by another Panther, Alex Volovetski, in 2007. Junior Tony Galante (313.40) placed second to round out their major contribution to the team score on the men’s side.
The Panthers once again showed their strength in distance events, with the men and women both performing well in the 500 free. Amanda Richey (4:44.72) and Kaleigh Ritter (4:44.77) took the top two spots with NCAA B cut times only a heartbeat apart, and Meghan Joram in fifth. Spencer Gray, Andrew McCarthy, and Aaron Sett finished third, fifth, and seventh, respectively.
The women also notched two relay wins in the 200 free (1:31.66) and 400 medley (3:39.94).
Though the distance swims were strong, the women’s sprinters also collected major points for the Panthers. Senior Danyel Johnson (22.96) finished second in the 50 free – a B cut time – with Emily Murphy just behind (23.12).
The men collected a pair of B cut times in the 200 IM as Mack Rice (1:47.76) and Zach Lierley (1:47.78) finished third and fourth. Gabe Larson trailed in fifth.
Day two of the Big Al Invite will start Saturday morning at 11 a.m. back at DeNunzio Pool. Finals are set to begin at 6 p.m.
Men
1. Princeton University (352)
2. Pitt (265)
3. Brown University (220)
4. Rider University (124)
5. Dartmouth College (113)
6. Columbia University (76)
7. Villanova University (42)
8. Pennsylvania State University (40)
Women
1. Pitt (268)
2. Villanova (239)
3. Princeton (215)
4. Brown (165)
5. Dartmouth (114)
6. Rider (24)
