Men's Swiming and Diving Drops Heartbreaker to Buffalo
10/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 15, 2010
PITTSBURGH—Pitt’s men’s swimming and diving team dropped a heartbreaker to Buffalo, 127-116, in its season opener held at Trees Pool this afternoon. The Panthers slip to 0-1 on the year, while the Bulls improved to 1-0.
Trailing 111-96, Pitt’s men’s swimming and diving team made it a two-point contest when it earned a sweep in the 200 breast. Freshman Rob Power won the event with a time of 2:06.56. Power jumped out on the rest of the field with a 27.89 split in the first 50, the fasted of the race. Next, junior Benjamin Solari finished second and freshman Pierre-Antoine Meunier was third overall.
However, the Panthers would finish second in the final event of the day – the 400 free relay. Senior Alex Kubicek gave Pitt an early lead with a 22.47 split in the first 50. The race remained close through the next exchange, but Buffalo’s sprinters would steadily start to pull away and take the eventual victory in the race and meet. Kubicek was joined by freshmen Sho Sugimoto and Alex Rodenkirk and junior Morne Boshoff.
The anchor in that relay, Boshoff was competing in his first meet as a Panther. Individually, he won the 500 free with a time of 4:41.77. He was also second in the 1,000 free, earlier in the contest.
In the first swimming event of the day, Pitt’s 400 medley relay team cruised to a first-place finish, stopping the clock at 3:24.86. That time was nearly three seconds faster than the second-place team. Sophomore Adam Maczewski gave the Panthers an early lead with a 49.67 split in the backstroke. He was joined by junior Benjamin Solari, senior Alex McLaren and junior Jake Van Roekel.
Later, Van Roekel earned an individual first-place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:42.82. He also made a push in the final lap of 100 free, but placed second in the event with a time of 46.73.
Maczewski would also earn an individual top finish, as he touched first in the 200 back at 1:49.81. He trailed a Buffalo swimmer through the first 150 of the race, but swam a 27.09 in the final lap to outlast the rest of the pack.
In another come-from-behind victory, junior Rousseau Kluever was trailing in the first half of the 200 fly. However, he used a surge at the next turn to take the lead and held on for the win at 1:55.25.
In diving action, senior Zane McLain recorded 321.98 points for a second-place performance on the 1M board. Additionally, classmate Collin Forner would finish second in the 3M event, earning 319.13 points.
Pitt returns to action tomorrow, Oct. 16, with an 11 a.m. meet against St. Bonaventure. Fans are encouraged to wear pink, as the Panthers ‘Pink the Pool’ in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.