Feb. 16, 2007

EAST MEADOW, N.Y.--Junior Jeremy Stultz repeated as the 3M Big East Champion, leading the Pitt men's swimming and diving team to a fourth-place finish on the third day of the Big East Championships with 267 points.

It was junior Stultz for the second consecutive year on the 3M board. Finishing with 368.45 points, Stultz earned the 3M Big East Championship crown for the Panthers.

Sophomore Alex Volovetski (Brandon, Fla./Armwood) finished third in 3M diving with 331.65 points. Pitt headed into the finals as the third and fourth seeds.

"Clearly Jeremy and Alex dove better tonight than in prelims," Assistant Head Coach for Diving Julian Krug said. "Jeremy did a much better job this time. He came in mature, having been in the finals before. When everyone else was missing dives, Jeremy didn't."

Senior Jeff Leath (Mechanicsville, Va./New Community) placed third in the 100 back finals with a time of 49.37.

In the 100 breast finals, junior Warren Barnes (Pickering, Ont./Dunbarton) turned in a seventh-place performance with a time of 55.73. Senior Dave Montgomery (Thorton, Pa./Salesianum School) placed 16^th in the consolation race with a swim of 57.15.

In the consolation heat of the 400 IM, juniors Chris George (Jacksonville, Fla./The Bolles School) and Jared Martin (Richmond, Va./Nova) finished 12^th and 15, respectively. George touched the wall with a season-high 3:59.61, while Martin finished at 4:02.77.

Freshman Rene Hjorth (Copenhagen, Denmark/Copenhagen) finished 16th overall in the consolation race for the 100 fly with a time of 50.47.

Sophomores Patrick Mansfield (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) and Andrew Kyrejko (West Orange, N.J./The Montclair Kimberly Academy) finished 12^th and 13^th, respectively, with times of 1:40.94 and 1:40.99. Kyrejko's time was a season-best.

Pitt's 400 medley relay team finished fourth with a season-best time of 3:19.26. The team included Leath, Barnes, Hjorth and Mansfield.

The Big East Championships conclude tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 17. Prelims begin at 10 a.m. and include 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and the women's 3M board. Real Time results are available at www.pittsburghpanthers.com.