Pittsburgh Women End Princeton’s 47 Meet Winning Streak

PITTSBURGH, Penn, January 7. FOR the first time since the 1997-98 season, the Princeton Tigers were on the losing end of a dual meet score, falling to Pittsburgh by a score of 165-135 at Trees Pool on Monday afternoon. The Panthers ended the Tigers' winning streak and bettered their own season record to 4-1.

Despite losing 30 of 38 points in the two diving events to the Tigers, Pittsburgh battled back to win 157 of a possible 262 points in the swimming events to register the victory. Michelle Demond of Princeton won both diving events with scores of 293.78 on the 1-meter board and 258.07 points in the 3-meter competition.

Things started out very well for the Pittsburgh swimmers as the 200 medley relay team of Andrea Shoust (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario/White Pines C & VS), Ryan Redman (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills), Kelli Tielking (Damascus, Md./Gaithersburg) and Jenny Livingstone (Endwell, N.Y./Union-Endicott) won with a time of 1:44.60, over two seconds better than Princeton's top team. The Tigers dominated the distance freestyle events with a 1-2-3 finishes in the 1000 and a 15-4 point advantage in the 500. Libby Engelmeier won the 1000 free with a time of 10:17.93 for the Tigers and won the 500 as well with a time of 5:03.48.

Senior Carolyne Savini (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J./Holy Spirit) earned the first of two individual victories in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:52.92. Her time was seven-tenths of a second better than teammate Kristin Brown (East Berlin, Pa./Bermudian Springs). Kitsie Kerner of Princeton picked up another victory for Princeton in the 100 backstroke, edging Shoust by four-hundredths of a second, 58.10 to 58.14.

Redman started a streak of Panthers' victories in the 100 breaststroke, touching in at 1:04.59 to defeat Stephanie Hsiao of Princeton by nearly a half of a second. Sophomore Amy Miteff (Wellington, Fla./Wellington) then won the 200 butterfly for the Panthers with a time of 2:06.33, edging Eileen Altenburger of Princeton by just 0.06 seconds. In the 50 freestyle, Livingstone headed a 1-2 finish by winning in 24.40 seconds, followed by Kelly Redcay (Reading, Pa./Wilson) with a time of 24.61 seconds.

Brown added a first-place finish in the 100 free to her second-place time in the 200 free, winning the event with a time of 52.40 seconds. She was followed by Livingstone with a time of 52.89 seconds. Savini won her second race in the 200 backstroke, finishing 0.76 seconds ahead of Shoust for another 1-2 finish by the Panthers. Then, in one of the more exciting finishes in the meet, senior Sarah Grant (Simi Valley, Calif./Seneca Valley) touched in with a personal-best and team season-best time of 2:22.56, defeating Lauren Rossi of Princeton by 0.47 seconds. Grant came into the meet ranked fourth on the Panthers in the event but earned the nine points for Pittsburgh on Monday.

Tielking won the 100 butterfly for the Panthers with a time of 56.81 seconds, almost a second and a half faster than Kelly Hannigan of Princeton, the second-place finisher. In the 200 IM, Savini notched a third individual victory with a time of 2:08.19, just 0.03 seconds faster than teammate Jennifer Koch (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy). In the meet's final event, the 400 freestyle relay team of Brown, Livingstone, Redcay and Savini placed first with a time of 3:32.01, winning the event by almost a second and a half over the Tigers.

Pittsburgh is back in action Saturday, Jan. 10 against the rival Mountaineers in Morgantown, W.Va. The meet begins at noon. After the meet, the newly-renovated locker rooms for the men's and women's swimming and diving teams were dedicated by head coach Chuck Knoles, while fans and alumni were invited to view the rooms.

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