University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern (W)
Women's Swimming & Diving Notch First ACC-Win
10/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Results | Team Scores
ATLANTA - After going winless in three Atlantic Coast Conference dual meets in the inaugural ACC season for Pittsburgh last year, the women's team needed just two weeks into the 2014-15 campaign to record their first win in their new home with a dual meet victory at Georgia Tech.
Pitt's women posted a close 169-131 win against the Yellow Jackets and also dispatched of Georgia Southern, 237-63. At last year's ACC Championships, Pitt finished two spots ahead of Georgia Tech.
"We now have our first ACC dual meet win under our belts," said head coach Chuck Knoles. "Our women totally dominated a Georgia Tech team that beat Notre Dame just last night. It was a significant show of our depth and our ability to win events. I am very pleased with the direction we are going."
"We had a lot of bright spots today in the women's meet. Our women competed tough today. It was impressive to watch."
The results were reversed on the men's side, as the suffered their first dual defeat of the season, 170-125. There was also a two-position gap between both teams at the 2014 ACC Championships, with Georgia Tech placing seventh and Pitt in ninth.
"Our men swam flat today, and Georgia Tech did not," said Knoles. "It was nice to see Tony Galante win both 1M and 3M events in diving. But every now and again you have a disappointing performance as a team. That was today for our men. I trust us to get back on target for next week's dual meets."
Freshman Amanda Richey and sophomore Tony Galante were the coaches picks for performers of the meet. Richey recorded a season-high three wins, while Galante swept the diving events for the first time this year.
The women compiled wins in 10 wins in 14 swimming events, which included both relay teams, and absolutely dominated the freestyle with the depth of their lineup. In all five of the individual freestyle events, not only did Pitt swimmers win, but also placed three in the top-four each time. The 400-yd free relay also saw Panthers take the top two spots.
Freshman Amanda Richey swam to wins in three races, the 200 (1:52.24), 500 (4:55.12) and 1,000-yd (9:57.56) freestyles. So far Richey is undefeated in the two longer distances in her rookie season. Senior Dani des Tombe had three top-four individual finishes, which included a win in the 100-yd free (52.04). She was also second in the 200 free and fourth in the 200 IM. Additionally, des Tombe was a part of Pitt's winning 400 free relay.
Completing the sweep of the freestyle races was junior Danyel Johnson in the 50 with a time of 23.79 seconds. Johnson also swam the last leg of the winning 200-yd medley relay on the Panthers' winning team.
For the second straight week to open the season, sophomore Kinga Cichowska swept the breaststroke events with times of 1:03.08 in the 100 and 2:16.81 in the 200. Both performances were season bests for Cichowska.
The final individual winner for the Panthers was junior Blair Wegescheide in the 100-yd backstroke (57.87). Wegescheide teamed up with Johnson on the winning 200-yd medley relay, swimming the first leg. Between the two were senior Cam Dixon and junior Mackenzie Meixner.
Although the 200-yd medley relay team set the tone, it was the Pitt women's 400-yd freestyle team that put the exclamation point that closed out the meet, with a Panthers season-best time of 3:30.91. Joining des Tombe on the squad were freshman Emily Murphy, junior Alex Iwanicki and sophomore Melissa Pocasi.
Despite the Pitt men struggling as a team, a number of individuals shone through. Of the 16 total events, Pitt placed first in six of them.
Galante swept the diving events with scores of 318.55 and 344.70 in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, respectively. He was the only multi-event winner for the Panthers, which had only three other individual winners.
Senior Kourosh Ahani had a solid day, highlighted by winning the 100-yd butterfly, in a season-best time of 48.97, as he has been so accustomed to doing throughout his career. Ahani was also a prominent figure on a pair of relay teams, helping the 400-yd free relay team close out the meet with a win in 3:09.48. He was joined by juniors David Sweeney and Sean Heiden and senior Jon Lierley.
Scoring the most points in the breaststroke on the day was senior Luke Nosbisch. He won the 200 in a time of 2:05:08, and earlier grabbed second in the 100. Junior Mack Rice also had a pair of individual top-three showings and another one on a relay team. Rice finished first in the 200-yd IM (1:55.45), while taking third in the 100-yd back and second in 200-yd medley relay along with Ahani, Heiden and junior Connor O'Prey.
Sweeney, who was a member of the winning 400 free relay team, was Pitt's best freestyle swimmer on the afternoon with a second place finish in the 200 and third place showing in the 100. Sophomore Zach Lierley also contributed to the success of the Panthers men with second place performance sin the 200 IM and 200 back.
Pitt returns to campus for an extremely busy weekend all beginning with the dual meet vs. St. Bonaventure on Friday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. Later that night, coach Marian Cassidy Clark will be honored as a Pitt 'Awardee of Distinction.'
Leading off Saturday morning is Pitt's alumni meet at 9 a.m. followed by a meet with Bucknell at 11 a.m.
Players Mentioned
