Men's Swimming and Diving Falls In Conference Opener
10/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 31, 2008
SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Leading the meet as it headed into the final event of the day, Pitt’s men’s swimming and diving team dropped a heartbreaker at Notre Dame, this evening, as the Panthers fell 152-148. Suffering its first loss of the season, Pitt slipped to 1-1 on the year.
Pitt opened the meet on top, as the 200 medley relay team earned a victory in the first swimming event of the contest. The Panthers would touch the wall over a second sooner than the Fighting Irish with a final of 1:34.07. Swimming for the Panthers was sophomore Bobby Smith (Copiague, N.Y.), senior Jonathan Buchanan (Beavercreek, Ohio), freshman Jake Lucas (Richmond, Va.) and sophomore Andrzej Dubiel (Dzierzoniow, Poland).
Each member of that relay would also record top-three finishes in individual events on the day.
First, Dubiel won the 100 back (50.74) and 200 back (1:50.78). In the 100 back race, Smith was next to touch the wall in as he finished second by edging out the Notre Dame swimmer by 17 tenths of a second. Smith then took third in the 200 back at 1:51.35.
Buchanan would win the 100 breast as the only one to finish the race in less than a minute. Senior B.J. Conklyn (Stroudsburg, Pa.) recorded a third-place finish in the 100 breast (1:00.31) for the Panthers, while freshman David Shen (Annadale, Va.) placed fourth (1:00.83).
The third member of the opening relay to finish first in an individual event was Lucas, who won the 100 fly at 49.94.
Freshman Alex Navarro (Redwood City, Calif.) was one of two other Panthers to win multiple events as he touched first in the 200 free (1:41.88) and 500 free (4:41.04). Navarro’s push at the end of the 500 free earned him the victory, which was five hundredths of a second faster than his Notre Dame opponent.
In the 200 free, sophomore Alex McLaren (North Saanich, B.C.) claimed a third-place finish at 1:44.95, while freshman Ryan Lynn (Kennet Square, Pa.) was fourth (1:45.20).
Senior Alex Volovetski (Brandon, Fla.) added two more first-place finishes as he swept the diving events. He took first on the 1M board with a score of 344.25 and added total of 373.12 points in the 3M event.
The Panthers travel to Cincinnati next, facing the Bearcats on Saturday, Nov. 15, at noon.