Swimming: Mountaineers Drop Close Meet
January 10, 2009 05:04 PM | General
January 10, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Despite gathering 19 first-place finishes, the West Virginia men’s and women’s and swimming and diving teams fell to Pitt Trees Pool on Saturday afternoon.
“In a rivalry such as Pitt and West Virginia, we had many swimmers step up to the occasion.” Coach Vic Riggs said. “I’m really proud of the team and could not really ask for more.”
The recently renewed rivalry saw the Panthers defeat the Mountaineer men in a very exciting back and forth meet, 155.5-144.5, while the women lost 166.5-131.5.
“There was a lot of heart shown today and as expected, we were very excited with it being our biggest dual meet of the year,” Riggs said. “We came off a plane yesterday from our training trip and we knew it was going to take our best effort to compete against Pitt. A lot of people stepped up and swam their season best times in the short turnaround.”
West Virginia’s men ’s squad (3-6 overall, 1-2 BIG EAST) was led by Michael Walker who had four first-place finishes, along with Pablo Marmolejo and George Farquhar earning first place three times.
The squad started the day with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:32.59) with efforts from Walker, Farquhar, Marmolejo and Brad Eichenseer. In the final event of the day, West Virginia placed second in the 400 free relay (3:08.81), a foursome made up of Payton Brooks, Kevin Anderson, Martin Vanis and Farquhar.
Farquhar, a transfer from Australia, placed first in both the 100 breast (57.97) and the 200 breast (2:07.83). Nathan Farmer also placed third in the 100 breast (59.54).
To go along with his first place in the relay, Walker finished first in the 100 back (50.72) and 200 back (1:50.59). He also swam in the 200 IM (1:52.45) where he had a first-place finish. Walker was followed by Tim Field in both the 100 back (52.47) and 200 back (1:52.06) where he finished in third place and second place, respectively.
Marmolejo won individual events in the 100 fly (49.53), 200 fly (1:50.76) and finished tenths of a second behind Walker in the 200 IM. Martin Vanis finished third in the 200 fly (1:54.61).
Another swimmer adding depth has been Eichenseer who placed third in the 50 free (21.48) and second in the 100 free (47.07).
Distance swimmer Justin Galbreath provided excitement with wins in both of his events, the 500 free (4:39.93) and the 1000 free (9:42.83).
The women’s team (3-7 overall, 1-2 BIG EAST) also had multiple first-place finishes with Kayla Andrews garnering four and Morgan Callaway swimming to victory three times.
In the two relays, the combination of Callaway, Jaryn Studer, Stephanie Shupe and Shaunna Purtell placed second in the 200 medley relay (1:46.85) to end the meet, the 400 free relay (3:26.11) of Sarah Kosmak, Shupe, Purtell and Andrews gathered the final first-place finish of the day.
Andrews had her three other first-place finishes in the 50 free (23.19), 100 free (50.41) and 100 back (56.83). Coming in second place in the 50 free (24.07) was Kosmak, who had a brilliant day.
West Virginia used the depth of Callaway to gain victories in the 200 free (1:51.08), 500 free (5:00.64) and 200 back (2:04.17). Another distance swimmer, Lindsey Largo had a successful day placing first in the 1000 free (10:09.15), third in the 500 free (5:03.50) and also swam in the 200 fly (2:08.28) where she finished third.
To go along with Purtell’s first-place relay effort, she swam in the 100 free (52.21) and 200 free (1:52.63) and finished second and third, respectively.
Shupe also added a first-place finish in the 100 fly (57.31). Isabel Perez also had some top finishes in the 100 breast (1:07.02) where she placed third and the 200 breast (2:24.19) where she came in second place.
“This is by far our best team performance of the year and if we can swim this well within 24 hours of coming off a plane, I’m very excited what we can do in the future,” Riggs added. “I know it was a very special day for our seniors and all of them rose to the occasion and swam with Mountaineer pride.”
West Virginia will be back in action when they travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Shamrock Invitational on Jan. 23-24, along with Notre Dame, Michigan State and Denver.
