University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
Notre Dame, Virginia Tech
Panthers Drop Pool Duel To Notre Dame, Virginia Tech
11/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
PITTSBURGH – On Saturday, Nov. 8, the Pitt men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams concluded a two-day dual meet at Notre Dame’s Rolf Aquatics Center with the Irish and Virginia Tech.
Pitt suffered defeats to both teams on both the men’s and women’s sides. The Panthers women fell to Notre Dame 230-140 and to Virginia Tech 252.5-117.5. The Pitt men were outscored by the host Irish 286-84 and fell by a similar margin to the Hokies, 287-83. Virginia Tech’s men’s team was ranked 18th in the latest CSCAA poll.
A number of Panthers swimmers had strong performances highlighted by eight different competitors that earned top three finishes throughout the weekend.
Freshman Amanda Richey continued her dominance since arriving on the collegiate scene. She was responsible for claiming both of Pitt’s wins in the two-day event, capturing first place in the 1,650-yd free and 500-yd free. Racing the 1,650 free for the first time at Pitt, Richey outraced the field with a NCAA “B” cut time of 16:30.13 on the opening night. She then recorded a season-best 4:51.50 in the 500. Richey also took second in the 200-yd free in 1:52.29.
Fellow distance swimmer, junior Kaleigh Ritter was close behind Richey, finishing second in the 1,650 free and third in the 500 free with times of 16:49.01 and 4:55.00, respectively. Ritter’s time in the 500 free was her best of the short season.
Sophomore Kinga Cichowska joined Richey as the only other Panthers swimmer to swim to three top-three finishes on the weekend. First, Cichowska placed third in the 100-yd breast in 1:03.33 in her only individual event of the opening night. On the second day of competition, Cichowska took third in the 200-yd IM with a time of 2:06.83 and closed out her weekend with another third place showing in the 200-yd breast in 2:16.78. Her time in the 200 breast topped her former season-best time by 0.03 seconds.
In addition to the distance freestyle races, the Pitt women also had strong showings in the shortest distances as well. Sophomore Danyel Johnson was second in the 50-yd free in 23.63 seconds, only 0.12 seconds behind first, while senior Dani des Tombe grabbed third in the 100-yd free with a time of 51.96 seconds.
Cichowska and des Tombe made up half of Pitt season-best 400-yd medley relay team along with juniors Blair Wegescheide and Mackenzie Meixner. The quartet finished third with a time of 3:51.62. des Tombe also paired up with junior Alex Iwanicki, sophomore Melissa Pocsai and freshman Emily Murphy for a season-fastest time of 3:29.95 in the 400 free relay.
Pitt’s men featured a trio of top-three finishers, led by senior Kourosh Ahani’s second place effort in the 100-yd butterfly. Ahani has continued to show is consistency in the race and posted a time of 49.16 seconds to show why he is one of the best in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Racing in the 400-yd IM for just the second time this year, school record holder sophomore Zach Lierley completed the distance in 3:59.83 for third place. Junior David Sweeney gave the Panthers a solid showing across the board in the 50 free with his third place swim in 21.06 seconds.
In diving, freshman Meme Sharp and sophomore Anthony Galante were Pitt’s two best performers of the weekend. Sharp placed fourth with 274.75 points in the 3-meter dive and was the Panthers’ top competitor in the 1-meter dive with 266.05 points. Galante was Pitt’s best diver at both the 1-meter and 3-meter heights, with scores of 280.80 and 311.60, respectively.
Pitt comes back home for the first time in nearly a month when it hosts the Pitt Invitational two weekends from now. The three-day meet runs November 22-24 and will feature nine teams, including ACC foe Clemson.
