PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, January 6. – THE Panthers sank Big East rival West Virginia, 169-131, at Trees Pool this afternoon when senior captains Kristin Brown and Andrea Shoust led the women's swimming and diving team with a total of five individual first-place finishes. The Panthers earned nine first-place finishes and improve to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the conference.<\/p>\n
Brown (East Berlin, Pa,\/Bermudian Springs) claimed a first-place finish in the 100, 200 and 500 free races. Her times of 50.89 in the 100 and 1:49.32 in the 200 qualified as NCAA B cut times.<\/p>\n
Winning two individual events was Shoust (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.\/White Pines C & VS), who finished first in the backstroke races. In a close 100 back, she stopped the clock at 56.67 for the win. Later her time of 2:01.83 in the 200 back earned her the victory.<\/p>\n
Shoust was also a member of the 400 medley relay team that outlasted the Mountaineers with a time of 3:47.72. Joining Shoust in the victory was sophomore Ruth Seiffert (Boothwyn, Pa.\/Garnet Valley), junior Brittany Stevens (Peachtree City, Ga.\/Starr's Mill) and sophomore Stacie Safritt (Cranberry Township, Pa.\/Seneca Valley).<\/p>\n
Stevens was later an individual first-place winner. She recorded a time of 57.11 in the 100 fly.<\/p>\n
Pitt's diver freshman Hanna Bratton (Lincoln, R.I.\/Moses Brown School) won the 1M diving event to open the meet. Bratton finished with 233.62 points in the event, while classmate Margo Ekstrom (Erie, Pa.\/McDowell) finished second with 219.67 points.<\/p>\n
In the 3M dives, Ekstrom finished second with 222.97 points, while freshman Alyssa Ferraro (Ridgewood, N.J.\/Ridgewood) scored 200.20 points for fourth.<\/p>\n
Pitt's final first-place performance was in the 400 free relay where the team of Brown, sophomore Agnes Mago (Kecskemet, Hungary\/Radford), freshman Lisa McDonnell (Columbia, Pa.\/Hempfield) and Safritt recorded a time of 3:25.04.<\/p>\n
Senior Kathy Siuda (Waterloo, Ont.\/Bluevale Collegiate Institute) placed second in the 1000 free with a time of 10.27.95, while freshman Sophie Cross (Thornton, Pa.\/Glen Mills) finished fourth at 10:44.38 in the same event.<\/p>\n
Later, Seiffert placed second in both the 100 (1:03.71) and 200 breast (2:21.68) races. In the 100 breast, sophomore Erika Rodriguez (Caracas, Venezuela\/Colegio Mader del Divino Pastor) and junior Colleen Sullivan (Alexandria, Va.\/Bishop Ireton) finished fourth and fifth for the Panthers.<\/p>\n
Seiffert was also second in the 200 IM (2:07.83), while Siuda was third in the event at 2:08.01.<\/p>\n
McDonnell placed second in the 100 back (56.89), while Safritt finished second in that 100 free with a time of 51.01. Mago trailed Brown in the 200 free and edged out the WVU swimmer to place second with a time of 1:54.53.<\/p>\n
Safritt, junior Kelly O'Hara (Voorhees, N.J.\/Timber Creek) and Stevens recorded second-, through fourth-place finishes in the 50 free when they finished at 23.77, 24.08 and 24.87, respectively.<\/p>\n
Finishing with other third-place performances were: McDonnell in the 100 fly (57.61); Siuda in the 200 fly (2:10.75) and freshman Ryann Kishbaugh (Danville, Pa.\/Danville Area) in the 200 back (2:07.28).<\/p>\n
The Panthers travel to College Park, Maryland next for a tri-meet against Maryland and Villanova on Friday, Jan 12 and Saturday, Jan. 13.<\/p>\n