Pitt
AT&T Winter Nationals
Pitt Swimming Earns Top-10 Finishes At Winter Nationals
12/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Results
GREENSBORO, N.C. - On the final day of the AT&T Winter Nationals at the Greensboro Aquatics Complex, eight Pitt swimmers qualified for finals races and both the men’s and women’s team combined for a seventh place finish in the University Division that wrapped up on Saturday, Dec. 6.
The two squads combined for 55 points, behind the likes of conference foes Louisville (second place) and NC State (fifth), but ahead of Duke, which finished 11th. Separately, the Pitt men placed sixth in the University Division with 39 points while the women were tied for ninth with 17 points. The men were aided by four relay teams that produced three top-eight finishes. Overall, with the inclusion of club teams, the Pitt men were 12th, the Pitt women were 26th and combined the Panthers were 10th.
“We had a great meet, a good last evening,” said head coach Chuck Knoles. “We saw some nice swims in the evening, a couple of improved times. I consider it a great learning experience for the team. They had some tough racing and I’m very pleased with the outcome and the direction we’re moving in as a team.”
After earning a top-eight finish on each of the first three days – the 800 free relay, 400 medley relay and 200 free relay – and an addition ninth place finish in the 200 medley relay, seniors Jon Lierley and Kourosh Ahani and juniors Sean Heiden and David Sweeney closed out the weekend with a 12th place finish in the event, giving the men five productive relay teams over the course of the four-day showcase.
During the final day of competition, for the first time all weekend, the Panthers placed multiple swimmers in finals swims, accomplishing the feat three times.
Just like the 100-yd breaststroke on Friday, Pitt was most dominant on Saturday in the longer 200 breast. Between both the men and women, four swimmers, two on each side, participated in the finals with a third won barely missing out.
Sophomore Kinga Cichowska swam her second B Final of the weekend after qualifying with a prelim time of 2:13.14. She finished 13th overall with a finals time of 2:13.36. After narrowly missing out on a finals spot in the 100 breast, senior Cam Dixon swam in the C Final of the 200 breast where she finished 19th after completing the race in a life-time best 2:13.73. Her finals time was 0.54 seconds faster than her prelim time. Freshman Katie Fernander was 27th in the prelims with a time of 2:15.70.
The men were led by senior Luke Nosbisch and junior Connor O’Prey in the 200 breast. Nosbisch, who posted a time of 1:58.41 in the prelims to earn a spot in the B Final, recorded a time of 2:01.67 in the finals. O’Prey entered the event with a personal best time of 2:01.12 and broke the two-minute barrier for the first time in his Pitt career in the prelims with a time of 1:59.30 to qualify for the C Final. He settled for 24th with a finals time of 2:00.56.
Two men also competed in the 200-yd butterfly finals as both senior Martin Vogel and junior Mack Rice swam in the B Finals of the event. Vogel, who missed out on a spot in the A final by 0.01 seconds after finishing the prelims in 1:46.88, took 10th overall after lowering his time to 1:46.64 in the finals. After swimming the 16th fastest time in the prelims at 1:48.14, Rice was able to slide up a spot to 15th overall with the same exact time in the finals.
The men rounded out the finalists with one swimmer apiece in the 200-yd backstroke and 100-yd freestyle. Swimming in his second final of the weekend, sophomore Zach Lierley made the C Final of the 200 back with a prelim time of 1:45.99 and placed 20th overall with a finals time of 1:46.02.
Heiden, who was one of three swimmers to compete in at least three of the men’s relay teams, wound up 24th in the 100 free with a finals performance of 44.73 seconds. Initially, Heiden wasn’t expected to participate in the finals after posting the 25th fastest time of 44.23 in the prelims. But the first alternate was added after St. Bonaventure’s Viacheslav Shchukin scratched.
Also taking place on the last day was the 1,650 finals, which featured Pitt’s top two distance swimmers. Junior Kaleigh Ritter placed 12th overall with a season-best time of 16:19.18, while freshman Amanda Richey was close behind in 16th with a time of 16:28.40.
All swimmers but Rice who swam in Saturday’s finals recorded at least one NCAA “B” cut time during the day.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” said Knoles. “We’ve got a hard winter training trip coming up. We have some exceptional dual meets in January and then we’ll be headed to the ACC Championships in February in the manner I want to get there. We’re ready to do some damage in the second semester. Everything worked out as I planned and we’re looking good for the championship season coming up.”
The majority of Pitt’s swimmers are done with competition for the remainder of 2014, however a handful will swim during Pitt’s Christmas meet which runs from Dec. 11-14. Following the Christmas meet, divers will head to Columbus, Ohio from Dec. 16-21 for the Diving Senior Nationals. The team will also head south for its annual winter training trip. The team will resume competition as a squad on Saturday, Jan. 10 against West Virginia.
