Pitt Men Dominate Penn State in Double Dual in South Bend, Took No. 17 Notre Dame Down to the Wire

SOUTH BEN, Ind. – The University of Pittsburgh men's swimming and diving program tops Penn State and falls just short to No. 17 Notre Dame, Saturday afternoon at Rolfs Aquatic Center.

"Our men did a fantastic job this weekend of coming to South Bend, IN ready to compete from the start of the meet all the way to the end," said head coach Chase Kreitler. "We won ten events to Notre Dame's nine events and came up three points short of winning the meet against the No. 17 ranked team in the nation! This is a huge step for our program. Notre Dame is coming off their highest NCAA finish in school history and we took them down to the last relay. In addition, we had a fantastic sweep of Penn State, winning all nineteen events. As much as it's great to see the performances, I'm most proud of how we have come together as a men's team, women's team and combined team and are racing for each other and are proud to represent Pitt. When you have a close knit team of people who care about each other and are willing to make the sacrifices to be elite, great things will happen."

The Panthers took the 256.00 – 97.00 win to the Nittany Lions and fought to the end, but came up two points shy to the Fighting Irish, 177.50 – 175.50 – coming down to the last relay of the afternoon.

Starting off strong, the 200 Medley Relay team comprised of Krzysztof Radziszewski, Jerry Chen, Marcin Goraj and Stepan Goncharov topped Penn State and claimed second overall with their time of 1:26.43. This time is currently ranked No. 6 in the nation.

The Panthers picked up two more first place finishes in the 1000 Free and 200 IM. Michal Piela posted the first-place overall win in the 1000 Free with a time of 9:09.03 – ranking No. 19 in the nation. Max Matteazzi secured a win over Notre Dame and Penn State in the 200 IM – finishing with a time of 1:45.64. This time is currently ranked No. 7 in the nation. Javier Zorzano also secured the third-place spot in the 200 IM to both Notre Dame and Penn State with his time of 1:49.30.

The Panthers took a 1-2-3 finish against Penn State in the 50 Free and 200 Free. Goncharov secured first to Penn State and second to Notre Dame in the 50 Free with his time of 20.12. Dominic Toledo and Radziszewski finished second and third to Penn State with their times of 20.25 and 20.26, respectively. Goraj claimed first to Penn State and second to Notre Dame in the 200 Free with his time of 1:34.76 – ranking No. 8 in the nation. Guy Frimis (1:36.74) and Piela (1:39.30) completed the 200 Free in second and third to Penn State.

Continuing the momentum for the Panthers, Adam Mahler secured the overall first-place finish in the 200 Fly with his time of 1:45.58 – securing the No. 15th spot in the nation.

Radziszewski took first to Penn State and third overall in the 100 Back – finishing with a time of 46.39. This places him at the 13th fastest time in the nation.

Matteazzi and Chen finished in first and second place overall in the 200 Breast with their times of 1:56.41 and 1:56.78, respectively. With these times, Matteazzi is tied for the seventh fastest time in the nation and Chen right behind him with the eighth fastest time. Nick Short secured the third-place finish to Penn State with his time of 2:00.31.

To top off the afternoon for the swimmers, the 400 Free Relay team of Goncharov, Toledo, Goraj and Radziszewski topped Penn State and took second overall – finishing with a time of 2:53.32. Their time is currently ranked No. 3 in the nation.

On the diving side, Cameron Cash took first overall in the 1 Meter – totaling 391.90 points. Dylan Reed was right behind Cash - claiming second overall with his total of 365.20.

UP NEXT

The Panthers will return home to host George Washington on Nov. 3-4 at Trees Pool.