VIRGINIA VS. LSU VS. PITTSBURGH
- Results
- Hosted by Pitt
- Friday, October 20th-Saturday, October 21st
- 25 Yards
- Dual Meet Format
FINAL TEAM SCORES:
- WOMEN: Virginia 218, Pitt 130
- WOMEN: Virginia 251, LSU 97
- WOMEN: Pitt 212, LSU 141
- MEN: Virginia 196.5, Pitt 155.5
- MEN: Virginia 222, LSU 131
- MEN: Pitt 203, LSU 150
The Virginia men and women racked up 2 more wins each last weekend with victories over ACC rival Pittsburgh and SEC foe LSU. The Pitt men and women each came away with a victory of their own, splitting the meet as they defeated the Tigers but fell to UVA.
Jen Marrkand was one of the top performers of the meet, winning 3 individual events. She got the ball rolling in the 100 fly on day 1, getting her hands to the wall slightly ahead of teammate Anna Pang to win it 54.69 to 54.75. On day 2, Marrkand completed her fly sweep with a 1:58.02 in the 200 fly. She also added a 1st place finish in the 200 IM, holding off a late charge from Pitt freshman Valerie Daigneault to win in 2:01.58 to Daigneault’s 2:02.22.
Daigneault picked up an individual win of her own in the 100 back to help Pitt to victory over LSU. Virginia’s Caitlin Cooper and fellow Pitt freshman Shannon Hochkeppel got out to the early lead, flipping in 26.98 and 27.05 respectively at the 50, while Daigneault trailed in 27.46. On the back half, however, Daigneault hammered home in 27.92, securing the win in 55.38 to Hochkeppel’s 55.56.
Distance ace Sam Magnan put together one of the highlight swims for Virginia on the men’s side. In the 1000 free, he battled closely with Pitt’s Aaron Sett, flipping almost dead even with him at the 500 mark. They were neck-and-neck until the 700, where Magnan started to pull ahead for the win in 9:10.59 to Sett’s 9:12.83.
PRESS RELEASE – VIRGINIA
Pittsburgh, Pa.- The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swept Pitt and LSU on Sat. (Oct. 21) in a two-day meet in Pittsburgh, Pa. at Trees Pool.
The No. 13 Virginia women’s team topped Pitt, 218-130, and LSU, 251-97, while the No. 22 Cavalier men defeated Pitt, 196.5-155.5, and LSU, 222-131.
“The teams came out today for the second day of the competition and picked up right where they left off,” head coach Todd DeSorbo said. “The women had a phenomenal weekend with some great racing. They’re learning a lot from week to week and practice to practice. I am excited about where the women are. We are in the perfect spot in October and I am looking forward to the rest of the season. There were a lot of highlights and a lot of great wins and great relays. They continue to impress us and keep us excited. We are excited about the rest of the season and where this women’s team can be in February and March. The ultimate goal is to be ready for NCAA Championships in March, with the ACCs being a stepping stone towards that. Every meet that we have from here until then is practice, just like every day. We are just fine tuning, learning and getting better.
“The men had a great competition as well. Pitt and LSU put up a good fight and challenged our men. It was good to see our men respond and finish off the meet strong, especially with some great breaststroke and backstroke swims near the end of the meet. We finished on a great note with the 400-freestyle relay win. Like the women, they continue to improve and get better from week to week. Again, that is the goal, to get them seasoned, and to get them used to swimming hard and tired. We treat our meets just like we do practice. We race a lot in practice and we race a lot in meets. We are making sure they are ready when it comes down to four- or five-day competitions at the end of the season with the ACC Championships and NCAAs.”
The Cavalier women opened the swim meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Marcella Maguire (Ridgefield, Conn.), sophomore Madeleine Vonderhaar(Lakeside Park, Ky.), senior Dina Rommel (East Amherst, N.Y.) and senior Caitlin Cooper(Atlanta, Ga.), respectively, recorded a time of 1:42.54 for first place.
Senior Jennifer Marrkand (Westford, Mass.) paced the women’s team, capturing a first-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (2:01.58) and 200-yard butterfly (1:58.02).
Cooper topped the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.63, while sophomore Mary Claire Tansill (Bristow, Va.) placed first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:15.27. Freshman Paige Madden finished first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.40.
Sophomores Joe Clark (Worcester Park, Great Britain) and Jacob Wells (Henrico, Va.) led the men’s team, capturing first-place swims in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. Clark recorded a time of 48.50, while Wells recorded a time of 2:01.62.
The Cavaliers concluded the meet with a sweep in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Freshman Anna Pang (Singapore), freshman Emma Seiberlich (Audubon, Pa.), junior Rachel Politi (Bexley, Ohio) and sophomore Morgan Hill (Olney, Md.), respectively, finished first with a time of 3:23.19, while the men’s team of Clark, sophomore Ryan Baker (Arlington, Va.), junior Bryce Keblish (Fairfield, Conn.) and freshman Samuel Schilling (Excelsior, Minn.), respectively, recorded a time of 2:58.61.
“We are looking forward to a week off from competition,” DeSorbo said. “We’ll get some good training in and then we will compete against Duke at home, then Louisville and Princeton in a few weeks. One of the most exciting things about today was the energy from our team from start to finish. They thrived and supported each other. They thrived on each other’s energy. It was exciting to see that this team is developing as a family and as athletes.”
The Cavaliers will return to action on Nov. 3 for their home opener against Duke at the Aquatic and Fitness Center.
PRESS RELEASE – PITT
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh swim and dive teams concluded action in a double dual meet with Virginia and LSU Saturday afternoon, as the Panthers won seven individual titles at Trees Pool.
“This team just keeps getting better,” said head coach John Hargis. “We continue to work hard, continue to race and compete in practice, and we’re seeing them race and compete like they’re supposed to during meets. We’ve got a lot of opportunities coming up, we’ve still got a lot to clean up and get better to be where we need to be, and we’re going to continue to do that.”
With the conclusion of the meet, the men defeated LSU 203.00-150.00 and fell to Virginia 196.50-155.50. The women also defeated LSU 212.00-141.00 but fell to Virginia 218.00-130.00.
The divers again got the day started as Meme Sharp posted the best finish of the afternoon, taking second on the 1M with a six-dive score of 272.40. Joe Ference paced the men with a third place finish on the 3M, tallying a score of 301.20.
“Meme came back today and showed real maturity,” said head diving coach Katie Hazelton. “She was confident and didn’t let yesterday affect her. She worked hard on all of the technique stuff that we have been working on in training and that showed in her performance today.
“Joe is really exciting. He is so new to the sport, he’s young, but he’s also been diving for such a short amount of time, his potential is fantastic. I think we’re going to start seeing his consistency getting better, but his scope of what he is going to achieve in the next few years is huge. It’s exciting to see him start to put everything together.”
Individually, the men continued to have stellar performances, tallying four individual titles and 10 top three finishes, including capturing first and second place in both the 200 IM and 200 free. Brian Lovasik took first in both the 500 free (4:26.56) and the 200 free (1:37.92), marking his third individual titles on the weekend. Also in the 500 free, Aaron Sett captured third with a time of 4:26.95, while Armin Remenyi placed second in the 200 free with a mark of 1:38.35.
“That 500 free is what you need for a meet like this, fast swimming creates fast swimmers and that just gets the ball rolling,” added Hargis. “We knew we had to come in and attack early, we had a shot in that event and the guys stepped up and took care of business.”
Luke Smutny would stand atop the leaderboard with a time of 1:47.83 in the 200 fly, also putting together a solid performance in the 500 free to take fourth with a time of 4:31.60. Samy Helmbacher would record his second first place finish of the weekend, touching with a time of 1:47.52 in the 200 IM. He was followed by Eben Vorster, who took second with a mark of 1:50.42 and Boris Kulizhnikov, who placed fourth with a time of 1:51.26.
Kulizhnikov would also place third in the 200 breast (2:02.13), while Remenyi would take second in the 50 free (20.91) and Vorster would place third in the 200 fly (1:49.13).
The relay team of Lovasik, Remenyi, Blaise Vera and Vorster would place second in the 400 free with a time of 2:59.30. The 200 medley relay group of Bence Szucsik, Jason Young, Vera and Lovasik touched third with a time of 1:30.82.
On the women’s side, the Panthers captured three individual titles, totaling seven top three finishes on the day. Valerie Daignealut would take the top spot in the 100 back (55.38), followed by teammate Shannon Hochkeppel in second with a time of 55.56. Daigneault would also place second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.22.
Amanda Richey would take her second individual title of the weekend, placing first in the 500 free with a time of 4:52.68. Shahar Menahem would also garner an individual title, earning first in the 200 free with a mark of 1:51.27, joined on the podium by Lea Gwennap, who placed third with a time of 1:52.36. Lina Rathsack earned a silver in the 200 breast, touching with a time of 2:15.63.
The women took third in both relays, touching with a time of 1:43.25 in the 200 medley, composed of Hochkeppel, Rathsack, Sam Howe and Rachel Brown. The group of Daigneault, Brown, Rathsack, Howe would touch with a time of 3:25.43 in the 400 free relay.
Pitt returns to action Friday, taking on Miami, Michigan State and James Madison in the Pink Meet at 4 p.m. in Trees Pool.
PRESS RELEASE – LSU:
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The LSU swimming and diving team finished third after day two of their tri-meet versus Pitt and Virginia. The women came up short to Pitt, 212-141, and Virginia, 251-97, while the men fell to Pitt, 203-150, and Virginia, 222-131.
Like yesterday, the Tigers got off to a fast start, winning both diving events. Sophomore Juan Celaya-Hernandez won the men’s three-meter springboard with a score of 413.20, winning both diving events at the meet. Lizzie Cui also won both women’s diving events this weekend, taking home gold in the women’s one meter springboard with a season-best score of 293.85.
Both Cui and Celaya-Hernandez qualified for NCAA Zones on top of their wins this morning.
“Going into this meet I knew that sweeping the diving events was a possibility and I told the team that,” noted LSU diving head coach Doug Shaffer. “For that to occur we had to focus on execution and for the most part we did that. But we surely have a to-do list moving forward.”
In the pool, LSU’s standout performers were Joao Mescolote, Karl Luht, Luca Pfyffer, and Lewis Clough, all of whom won events.
Mescolote was the only swimmer to win multiple events on the day. Mescolote was the anchor of the winning 200-yard medley relay team, which swam a 1:30.40. By winning the relay, LSU started out the day winning the first three events. Mescolote also won first place in the 50 free, touching the wall to post a time of 20.68 seconds, his best of the season so far. Luht, Pfyffer, and Clough were also part of the winning relay team.
Along with the wins, multiple Tigers set career-best and season-best times in their respective events. Kit Hanley, Luca Pfyffer, Raleigh Bentz, and Grace Horton all set new top times in their individual events.
Hanley swam a 1:52.93 in the 200 free to finish fourth in the event. Luca Pfyffer, meanwhile, raced to a time of 2:02.73 to finish sixth in the 200 breast.
Horton and Bentz set personal-bests in the same event, the 100 back. Horton clocked a 56.85 while Bentz touched the wall at 57.35 to finish eighth and ninth, respectively.
Also, Lauren Thompson, Alarii Levreault-Lopez, Kate Zimmer, Lewis Clough, Karl Luht, and Will Arthur all swam season-best times this morning.
“Just like yesterday, we came out with a strong performance from diving and carried that into our first relay,” said LSU swimming head coach Dave Geyer. “After that, we just didn’t sustain the energy needed through a couple events. Joao got things going again for the 50 free and we had some solid swims in the 200 fly and 100 back. We have a young team and it’s hard to rush a maturation or growing process. I think we learned a lot about who we are here and look forward to getting back home and then onto our next competition at SMU.”
The Tigers will travel to take on SMU in a dual meet at 6 p.m. Friday, November 3, at Barr-McMillion Natatorium in Dallas, Texas.
Wins:
Men:
Three-meter springboard – Juan Celaya-Hernandez (413.20) NCAA Zones Qualification
200-yard medley relay- Karl Luht, Luca Pfyffer, Lewis Clough, Joao Mescolote (1:30.40)
50-yard free- Joao Mescolote (20.68)
Women:
One-meter springboard – Lizzie Cui (293.85) NCAA Zones Qualification
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