Pittsburgh Defeats Notre Dame, Villanova and Maryland

PITTSBURGH, Penn., January 17. THE Pittsburgh men’s swimming and diving team, ranked 17th in the nation by the College Swim Coaches Association of America, finished off its three opponents in the second day of a two-day meet at Trees Pool on Saturday, defeating Notre Dame, 228-123, Maryland by a score of 258-93 and Villanova by a count of 298-49.

The Panthers (8-1, 4-0 Big East) won seven of the 10 events contested during day two, including both relay competitions and the 1-meter diving event. Sophomore Dennis Nemtsanov (Calhoun, Ga./LSU/Robert E. Lee) earned a sweep of the diving events with his victory on the 1-meter board. He finished with 299.9 points, 26.2 ahead of his teammate, Matthew Schwartz (Huntington, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East).

After Ted Brown of Notre Dame edged in ahead of Eric Limkemann (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan) in the 500 freestyle, the Panthers got back on the winning track with a first-place finish in the 400 medley relay. The team of freshman Jeff Leath (Mechanicsville, Va./New Community), Steve Marcucio (Watertown, Conn./Watertown), Jason Miller (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and Eric Bugby (Easton, Pa./Notre Dame) finished with at time of 3:24.74, just two-hundredths of a second ahead of Notre Dame.

Limkemann struck back with a victory in the 200 freestyle, touching in at 1:41.90, just 0.03 seconds in front of Chris Brandenberger of Maryland. Miller kept up the Panthers’ winning ways with a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley. His time of 1:53.81 topped Jamie Lutkus of Notre Dame by almost a full second. That streak was snapped by Tim Kegelman of the Fighting Irish in the 200 butterfly when he topped Miller by just 0.17 seconds for first place in the event.

Other winners in individual events included Maryland’s Mark Hill in the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.94 seconds, Leath in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:48.11, Marcucio in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:05.98 and Pittsburgh in the 400 freestyle relay, finishing the event with a time of 3:04.81, 2.23 seconds quicker than Maryland’s top team.

The highlight of the opening day for the Irish was the 400-yard individual medley, in which Notre Dame swimmers took each of the top three spots. Junior David Moisan (Fisherville, Ky./Louisville Male H.S.) led the way with a time of 4:02.37. He was followed by sophomore University recordholder Jamie Lutkus (Granger, Ind./Penn H.S.) in 4:04.24 and freshman Ted Brown (Kokomo, Ind./Western H.S.) in 4:05.92.

Freshman Tim Kegelman (Yorktown, Va./Tabb H.S.) was also a winner for Notre Dame, topping the field in the 100 butterfly with a season-best mark of 49.19. It is the best time for an Irish swimmer in the event in 2003-04 and is the third-best ever, behind only a pair of marks by school record-holder Frank Krakowski at the 2003 BIG EAST Championships.

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