This past weekend, the University of Pittsburgh held the 2014 Pittsburgh Invitational at Joe C. Trees Pool. The Invite was attended by the following teams: California (Pa.), St. Bonaventure, West Virginia Wesleyan, Drexel, Fairmont State, IUP, Lock Haven, West Chester, and Clemson. The majority of these teams are from the Pennsylvania and West Virginia area, so competition was exciting among the local teams. In the end, Pittsburgh won the women’s meet and the men’s meet after establishing an impressive lead over the rest of the teams. Here’s a recap of the weekend:
Friday Night Finals
Pitt delivered a 1-2 punch in the 200 women’s 200 Freestyle Relay, with the A squad of Alex Iwanicki, Emily Murphy, Jenny Young, and Danyel Johnson finishing in 1:32.88. The B relay frinished in 1:34.36 to take second. Pitt also won the men’s 200 Freestyle Relay, touching the wall in 1:20.86. They were trailed by West Chester’s A team in 1:22.73.
Next up was the women’s 500 Freestyle. Amanda Richey of Pittsburgh claimed first in a time of 4:46.03, followed by her teammates Kaleigh Ritter (4:47.26) and Bethany DeWitt (4:50.62). In the men’s 500, Victor Polyakov of West Chester took first in 4:24.14, well ahead of the next finisher, Pitt’s Spencer Gray (4:29.38). Jared Haley of West Chester was third in 4:30.37.
In the women’s 200 IM, Pittsburgh claimed the top five spots. Finishing first was Kinga Cichowska in 2:02.75, followed by Charlene Yuan in 2:03.83 and Cam Dixon in 2:03.97. Zachary Lierley won the men’s 200 IM in 1:49.59, followed by Thomas McCormick of West Chester in 1:50.10 and Luke Nosbisch of Pitt in 1:50.75.
Next up were the 50 Freestyle events. In the women’s final, Emily Murphy of Pitt won first place in a time of 23.40. Pitt also claimed second through sixth place in the event, with Jessica Nederlanden (23.47) taking second and Danyel Johnson (23.47) taking third. Pittsburgh’s Sean Heiden won the men’s event in a time of 20.58, slightly faster than his morning swim. Michael Pilyugin of St. Bonaventure took second in 20.85, and Evan Sherkness of West Chester took third in 20.86.
Pittsburgh’s Blair Wedescheide, Kinga Cichowska, Mackenzie Meixner, and Emily Murphy took first in the 400 Medley Relay in a time of 3:42.25. Pittsburgh’s B and C relays took second and third place, respectively, in this event. In the men’s 400 Medley Relay, Victor Polyakov, Bogdan Grebenyuk, Luke Maguire, and Dan Sokman of West Chester won in 3:16.72. Pitt’s A relay took second, followed by Drexel’s A relay.
Saturday Night Finals
In the women’s 200 Medley Relay, Pittsburgh’s A relay of Blair Wegescheide, Kinga Chichowska, Mackenzie Meixner, and Danyel Johnson won in a time of 1:41.22. They were followed by Pittsburgh’s B relay and Drexel’s A relay. Pittsburgh also won the men’s 200 Medley Relay, with Mack Rice, Luke Nosbisch, Sean Rhinehart, and Sean Heiden finishing in a time of 1:29.48. They were chased to the finish by Drexel’s A, who finishing in 1:30.98.
In the women’s 400 IM, Amanda Richey claimed first in a time of 4:21.70. She was followed by Athena Summa, also of Pitt, who swam a 4:24.48. In the men’s event, Zachary Lierley finished first in 3:52.82, followed by a pair of West Chester swimmers: Mike Oliver in 3:57.27 and Thomas McCormick in 3:59.57.
Pitt claimed the top two spots in the women’s 100 Butterfly. Lauren Mills (56.59) and Mackenzie Meixner (56.67) raced to the wall to edge out St. Bonaventure’s Aly Paz (56.94). Drexel’s Kyle Lukens then took first in the men’s event in 48.23, ahead of West Chester’s Luke Maguire in 49.25 and Pitt’s Martin Vogel in 49.31.
Pitt racked up some points with a 1-2-3 finish in the women’s 100 Backstroke. Blaire Wegescheide took first in 54.85, followed by teammates Brooke Waugaman in 55.90 and Emily Murphy in 56.53. In the men’s event, Joel Berryman of Drexel won the top spot, finishing in 49.21. Michael Pilyugin of St. Bonaventure took second in 49.70.
In the 800 Freestyle Relay, Pitt’s A relay of Amanda Richey, Kaleigh Ritter, Bethany DeWitt, and Jessica Nederlanden took first in 7:25.91, almost ten seconds ahead of the next finisher, St. Bonaventure. In the men’s event, it was West Chester’s Bradley Strathmeyer, Jared Haley, Thomas McCormick, and Victor Polyakov that took first in 6:37.99, just ahead of Pitt’s A relay.
Sunday Night Finals
The longest events of the weekend, the men’s and women’s 1650 Freestyle, took place in the afternoon before the Sunday night session. Amanda Richey of Pitt dominated the women’s event in a time of 16:15.84, followed by Bethany DeWitt of Pitt (16:49.42) and Lauren Carastro of West Chester (17:12.01). In the men’s event, Victor Polyakov of West Chester took first 15:27.59, followed by Jared Haley of West Chester (15:42.88) and Scott Simmer of Pitt (15:44.39).
In the women’s 200 Backstroke, Pitt’s Amanda Richey was back again, winning the event in a time of 2:01.87. Brooke Waugaman of Pitt took second in 2:01.94, just behind Richey. In the men’s 200 Backstroke Austin Doss of Pitt finished in 1:49.28, just ahead of his teammate, Matt Tankle, in 1:49.48.
In the women’s 100 Freestyle, Pitt continued their winning streak. Emily Murphy finished first in 51.08, followed by Tess Hayward of West Chester in 51.72. David Sweeney of Pitt also won his event, in a time of 44.76. He was chased by Viacheslav Shchukin of St. Bonaventure in 45.14 and Sean Heiden of Pitt in 45.41.
Kinga Cichowski of Pitt won the 200 Breaststroke in 2:11.25 and was followed by three other Pitt swimmers: Cam Dixon (2:14.27), Katie Fernander (2:15.41), and Charlene Yuan (2:18.82). In the men’s event, Luke Nosbisch of Pitt took the top spot in 1:59.71, followed by Mike Oliver of West Chester in 2:01.63 and Thomas McCormick, also of West Chester, in 2:02.19.
Tanja Kirmse of St. Bonaventure won the women’s 200 Butterfly in 2:03.53, chased by Elizabeth Malone of St. Bonaventure in 2:04.33 and Athena Summa of Pitt in 2:04.75. Drexel’s Kyle Lukens won the men’s event in 1:47.61, followed by Mack Rice of Pitt in 1:48.42 and Eric Long of West Chester in 1:49.07.
In the final event of the Pitt Invite, the 400 Medley Relay, Pittsburgh was dominant in both the men’s and women’s events. The A relay of Mary Beth Blocher, Jessica Nederlanden, Blair Wegescheide, and Emily Murphy took first in a time of 3:27.20, followed by the Pitt B relay in 3:31.04. In the men’s event, Pitt’s winning A relay consisted of David Sweeney, Jon Lierley, Gabriel Larson, and Sean Heiden. They finished in a time of 2:59.02. The second place finisher was West Chester in a time of 3:00.83, just behind Pitt’s A.
Men’s Team Scores:
Pittsburgh – 2394
West Chester – 1811
Drexel – 1497
St. Bonaventure – 1179
Indiana University of Pennsylvania – 914
Fairmont State – 630
West Virginia Wesleyan – 274
Women’s Team Scores:
Pittsburgh – 3010
St. Bonaventure – 1612
Drexel – 1077
West Chester – 952
Indiana University of Pennsylvania – 762
California University of Pennsylvania – 419
West Virginia Wesleyan – 372
Clemson – 316
Lock Haven – 226
Fairmont State – 161
Complete results can be found at http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/livestats/c-swim/index.htm.