For the second straight outing Pitt coasted by the competition, this time sweeping Division III power Denison at Trumbull Aquatic Center on Saturday, Jan. 17.
Both the men and women are now on a two-meet win streak, with the women improving to 6-3 following their 201-96 victory against the Big Red, while the men are now 5-3 thanks to a 178-120 win.
“We did a nice job today, the kids were really good,” said head coach Chuck Knoles. “We’re excited about the results. They’re swimming fast tired and we’re looking forward to a weekend off. Then we have our senior rec meet at Pitt, our swan song for the seniors for their last home meet. Then we’re off to Villanova for our last dual meet of the season. ACC Championships are just down the road and I think we’re in a great place to have a great end-of-the-season meet at ACC Championships.”
In 10 of 16 events, the women took at least the top two spots, including the top three finishers in four of them. Pitt had the first five finishers in the 100-yd backstroke, the first four finishers in the 200-yd freestyle and the first three in both the 200-yd back and 200-yd IM.
Individually, two women were responsible for three pool records and a pair of NCAA “B” cut times. Additionally, the women’s 400 medley relay opened the day with a school record and NCAA qualifying standard performance.
Sophomore Kinga Cichowska, senior Dani des Tombe and juniors Blair Wegescheide and Leticia Lelli competed on the 400 medley relay team that lowered the school record by more than 10 seconds. The quartet had a time of 3:29.31 compared to the former Pitt record of 3:39.68, which was just set at last year’s AT&T Winter Nationals.
Cichowska led the way once again with three individual wins and. She posted pool records in the 100-yd breaststroke (1:02.19) and 200-yd breast (2:16.02) and also won the 200 IM in 2:06.98. Her time in the 100 breast was good for an NCAA “B” cut.
Freshman Amanda Richey was the other swimmer on the women’s team to record a pool and NCAA “B” cut time when she completed the 1,650 free in 16:28.02. Richey also won the 500 free (4:58.57) and placed second in the 200 free (1:52.50).
Lelli was also right behind Cichowska in terms of individual wins with two. In addition to swimming on the 400 medley relay, Lelli won both the 100 back (57.76) and 100 fly (57.04).
The remaining members of the 400 medley relay team, Wegescheide and des Tombe, both had a handful of top-two finishes as well. Wegescheide was the runner-up in both the 100 back (58.15) and 200 back (1:03.02), while des Tombe won the 200 free (1:53.05) and was second in the 100 free (52.54).
Senior Tatyanna Sarjeant and freshman Emily Murphy rounded out the wins for the Pitt women swimmers. Sarjeant was first in the 200 back (2:05.25) and Murphy took the 50 free in 23.94. Both swimmers also added a top-three finish to their names, Sarjeant with her second place finish in the 200 IM (2:09.48) and Murphy with third in the 100 free (52.72).
Freshman Katie Fernander also had a strong day, finishing runner-up in both breaststrokes. She had times of 1:05.39 in 100 breast and 2:23.27 in the 200 breast.
In diving, freshman Meme Sharp swept both events and sophomore Rachel Saunders was second to Sharp each time. Sharp had a Pitt season-best score of 292.73 in from 1-meter and won 3-meter with a score of 297.30. Sharp’s performance in the 1-meter was Pitt’s highest score from that height since Mallory Mullady tallied 306.15 points on Jan. 29, 2011.
The men’s meet was a little closer as Denison has won two of the last three national championships at the Division III level. However, the Panthers men still won 11 events and had at least the top two finishers on five occasions.
In just his second meet with Pitt, sophomore diver Dominic Giordano continues to make a splash. Fresh off his ECAC Division I South Men’s Diver of the Week award, Giordano turned in Pitt’s best showing from 3-meters in nearly seven years. Setting a pool record in the process, Giordano scored 395.55 points, which is the highest score by a Pitt diver from that height since Jeremy Stultz set the school record with 409.73 points on Jan. 27, 2008. Giordano took the sweep in the diving competition by winning from 1-meter as well with a Panthers season-best 351.60.
Junior Mack Rice, one of just two Pitt men’s swimmers to win multiple events on the day, also set a pool record with his time of 1:49.15 in the 200-yd butterfly. He also won the 200 IM in 1:52.54. Junior David Sweeney was the only other male swimmer to win two races, sweeping the 100 free (45.20) and 200 free (1:42.04).
Overall, it was a balanced showing for the men at Pitt with eight different student-athletes taking first in at least one event.
Giving Pitt a sweep of first in the 1650 free was sophomore Scott Simmer with his time of 15:57.56. He also was third in the 500 free (4:39.45). Seniors Kourosh Ahani and Luke Nosbisch teamed up to take first in the 100 fly (49.72) and 200 breast, (1:01.61), respectively.
Both sophomore Zach Lierley and junior Avery Warrington had one first place finish and added a third place result as well. Lierley won the 200 back (54.05) and was third in the 200 IM (1:55.42). Warrington touched the wall first in the 50 free (21.10) and placed third in the 100 free (46.16).
Other strong showings for the men were junior Martin Vogel, who was second in both the 100 fly (50.62) and 200 free (1:42.32), and junior Matt Tankle, who had a pair of top three finishes in both the 100 back and 200 back.
Next weekend the Panthers are off, before they return to the Pool on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 and 31 for the home finale at the Senior Recognition Meet.
