University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Big East Championships Preview: Men's Distance Freestyle
2/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Big East Championships Preview: Men's Distance Freestyle
2/13/2003
PITTSBURGH ? The Panthers' men's swimming and diving team, ranked No. 19 in the country, will be going after its seventh consecutive Big East title and 18th in the 21-year history of the meet next week in Long Island, N.Y.
Distance Freestyle
Pittsburgh has junior co-captain Eric Limkemann (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan) peaking at the right time of the season heading into the Big East Championships. Limkemann won both the 500- and 1650-yard freestyle races at last year's meet and is poised to repeat his success this year as he heads in ranked No. 1 in the conference.
In Thursday's 500 free, Limkemann's top competiton will come from Syracuse's Josh Scott, West Virginia's Kleyton Franca, St. John's Marcin Filipowicz, and Rutgers' Sean Smith. Also near the top of the Big East rankings are Panther swimmers Hannes Kohnke (Malmo, Sweden/Borgarskolan), Adam Webber (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), and Tommy Bird (Charleston, W.Va./Capital).
Franca was closest to Limkemann at last year's Championships, coming in 3.46 seconds behind Limkemann's time of 4:23.26. The Panther junior is the only conference swimmer with an NCAA B-cut time already this year with a 4:27.39 at the Pittsburgh Invitational.
Freshman Andrew Patrizzi (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) has also qualified for the 500 free with a time of 4:38.33.
Saturday's 1650 freestyle might go a long way in solidifying the Panthers' goal of becoming an 18-time champion of the conference. Limkemann and Kohnke are currently ranked first and second in the event this season with times of 15:27.06 and 15:37.16, respectively. Limkemann ran away with last year's title in an NCAA-qualifying time of 15:13.91, almost 17 seconds faster than his nearest competitor, Michal Szapiel of St. John's. Szapiel is ranked sixth in the Big East heading into the Championships this season. Smith and Filipowicz appear to be the top opponents for Limkemann and Kohnke as they try to make it a 1-2 sweep.
Tomorrow's preview: Backstroke
