No. 22 Pittsburgh Places Second at Nike Cup
11/18/2000 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
No. 22 Pittsburgh Places Second at Nike Cup
11/18/2000
Chapel Hill, N.C. - University of Pittsburgh men's swimming and diving team had an outstanding weekend on two fronts. Firstly, in the most recent College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSAA) poll, the Panthers were ranked 22nd, its highest ranking in school history. Secondly, Pittsburgh finished second (842 points) at the Nike Invitational Cup to host and 14th-ranked North Carolina (1,113).
Pittsburgh set three school records, two meet records and tallied five NCAA B-cut times at the Nike Cup. The Panthers had strong outings in the relays, winning three of the five events, while taking top honors in five individual events.
The Panther 200 free relay of Mike Demos (McKeesport, Pa./Elizabeth Forward), Patrick Shedlock (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin), Miah Heath (Estes Park, Colo./Estes Park) and Mike Grube (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) shocked North Carolina and the rest of the crowd by winning the first relay of the meet (1:21.23), setting the tone for a strong Panther outing.
On the second day of the meet, the 800 free relay of Adam Webber (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), Steve Siler (Chicago, Ill./Westmont), Grube and Max von Bodungen (Malm, Sweden/Borgarskolan) won handily with a time of 6:37.69. The mark broke a Pittsburgh and Nike Cup record, while making an NCAA B-Cut with one of the fastest 800 free relays this year.
On the last day of the meet, Siler swam his way to a probable berth in the NCAA Championships (March 22-24) after posting a time of 1:44.57 in the 200 back, which is a Pittsburgh record, an NCAA B-Cut qualifier and one of the nation's fastest times this season. The Panthers took 1-2 in the event as Ken Shelhorse (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus) touched the wall second with a time of 1:48.15. Siler additionally won the 100 back with a time of 49.95, just missing the NCAA B-cut time of 49.36, while Shelhorse finished fourth with a time of 51.17.
Pittsburgh dominated the 100 free with Grube finishing first with a time of 45.01, followed by von Bodungen in third (45.26), Heath in fourth (45.38), Webber in 11th (45.92) and Demos in 13th (46.61). Overall the Panthers tallied 72 points in the event, its best showing of the three-day meet. Grube additionally won the 100 free preliminary with an NCAA B-cut time of 44.62. Pittsburgh was also solid in the 200 free as von Bodungen won the first of his two individual titles with a time of 1:38.74. (He also won the 200 fly with a time of 1:49.29.) Overall in the 200 free, the Panthers scored 62 points, placing four swimmers in the top 10 with Siler placing fourth, Grube placing ninth and Webber placing 10th. Grube added a second-place finish in the 50 free with a time of 20.34, missing the NCAA B-cut by just .01 seconds (20.33).
Freshman Eric Limkemann (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan) posted an NCAA B-Cut time in the 1,650 free (15:33.90), while posting a lifetime best 1,000 free (9:24.63) on his way to his fourth-place finish. Junior Will Eden (Scottsdale, Ariz./Chaparral) added a pair of solid efforts, placing third in the 200 IM (1:51.16) and second in the 400 IM (3:59.38).
In the last event of the meet, the 400 free relay, Grube, von Bodungen, Webber and Heath broke a seven-year old Nike Cup record and a 12-year old Pitt record, posting a winning time of 2:58.90 and making an NCAA B-cut in the event.
