Men's Swimming and Diving Soars To Win Over Bonnies

Friday, October 27

Pittsburgh, Pa.

3:00 PM

Pitt

169

St. Bonaventure

Men's Swimming and Diving Soars To Win Over Bonnies

10/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving

Oct. 27, 2006

Complete Results

PITTSBURGH--The Pitt men's swimming and diving team opened its season at home against St. Bonaventure in its `Swim for the Cure' meet held at Trees Pool this afternoon, garnering a 168-74 win. The Panthers picked up 11 first-places finishes in the meet.

Pitt earned its first points on the diving boards. Sophomore Aleksandr Volovetski (Brandon, Fla./Armwood) finished with 351 points to win the meet in the 1M boards, while classmate Eric Becker (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) finished third 207.45. With that finish, Volovetski improved upon his 1M record, which he previously held at 349.10.

Later Volovetski won the 1M boards with 372.15 points, also setting the school record previously held by senior Jeremy Stultz (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) at 368.15.

In the opening swimming event, the men's 200 medley relay team picked up the first win with a 1:34.32 finish. Swimming for the Panthers were junior Steve Jackson (Moon Township, Pa,/Moon Area), senior Dave Montgomery (Thorton, Pa./Salesianum School), freshman Geoff Morgan (Mountianville, N.Y./Cornwell Central) and sophomore Andy Kyrejko (West Orange, N.J./The Montclair Kimberly Academy).

Then in a come-from-behind win, junior Scott Shearer (Allison Park, Pa./North Allegheny) trailed the St. Bonaventure swimmer, Chris Ekimoff, in the first half of the 1000 free by just a few tenths of a second. Shearer eventually took the lead, pulling away with a seven-second win at 10:01.64. Claiming third in the 1000 free was freshman Andrew Natali (Temple, Wisc./Appleton) at 10:12.40.

In the men's 200 free, Kyrejko was the first of two Panthers to finish the event, picking up the win with a time of 1:44.32. Just behind him, Jackson followed for second place at 1:45.29.

Picking up the first top-three sweep for the men, freshman Alex Kubicek (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) won a close race in the 50 free when he clocked in at 21.21, two tenths of a second faster than senior Jeff Leath (Mechanicsville, Va./New Community) who touched at 21.23. Sophomore B.J. Conklyn (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) took third in the same event with a time of 22.37.

Junior Warren Barnes (Pickering, Ontario/Dunbarton) touched the wall first in the 100 breast with a time of 57.06, while Montgomery finished at 59.37 for fourth.

Next, junior David Anderson (Lawrenceville, Ga./Collins Hill) and Morgan claimed second and third place in the 100 fly, while freshman Rene Hjorth (Copenhagen, Denmark/Copenhagen) and sophomore Chris Howard (Medford, N. J./Bishop Eustace School) took fourth and fifth in the same event.

Recording multi-event wins, Kyrejko picked up his third, first-place performance in the 100 free, stopping the clock at 48.25. Barnes recorded a second-place finish at 50.25.

In the next event, Leath garnered a top finish in the 100 back when he clocked in at 51.75.

Later in the 500 free, Pitt swept another top three, as Jackson earned the win at 4:47.21. Shearer recorded second-place at 4:53.01, while sophomore Jared Martin (Richmond, Va./Nova) rounded our the top three with a 4:55.25 effort.

Anderson (4:11.87), Martin (4:12.09) and freshman Charlie Zettle (Wayne, Pa./Conestoga) recorded second through fourth place in the 400 IM, for the final individual event of the day.

Pitt ended the meet with a two-second victory over the Bonnies in the 200 free relay. The winning squad included Hjorth, Conklyn, Kubicek and Morgan, who finished at 1:27.02

Pitt faces Big East foe Syracuse tomorrow at Trees Pool. Action begins in the divers at 11 a.m.