Jan. 14, 2002

Two West Virginia Natatorium records were broken by Pittsburgh swimmers and the return of junior Mike Grube helped the No. 18 Panthers to an easy 163-78 win over Big East rival West Virginia on Saturday.

Grube (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby), last year's Big East Male Swimmer of the Year, competed for the first time in 2001-02 after injuring his knee in the preseason and broke the pool record and set Pittsburgh's top time in the 100 freestyle this season with a 45.23 mark. He was also Pittsburgh's top swimmer in the 200 free with a time of 1:42.61, which placed him second in the meet behind WVU's Kleyton Frunca.

Sophomore Ken Shelhorse (Gaithersburg, Md./Damascus) also set a pool record in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:50.98. Shelhorse's time was nearly four seconds faster than the nearest competitor, the Panthers' Eric Drummond (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park).

Shelhorse also led the Panthers' 400 medley relay team with a pool-record 51.87 in the first 100 leg backstroke. He teamed with Raymond Brush (Katy, Texas/Katy/Nebraska), Miah Heath (Estes Park, Colo./Estes Park) and Grube to win the event in 3:26.72.

Other individual winners for the Panthers included Eric Limkemann (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan) in the 1000 and 500 freestyle, Heath in the 50 free, Brush in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke and diver Michael Wells (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown) on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards.

The Panthers also took first place in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:09.71. Max Von Bodungen (Malmo, Sweden/Borgarskolan), Adam Webber (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), Steve Siler (Chicago, Ill./Westmont) and Michael Hand (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) were the four Pittsburgh swimmers.

Pittsburgh (4-0, 3-0 Big East) will return home to face Maryland and Big East rival Villanova in a two-day tri-meet on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 18-19, at Trees Pool. Competition will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday.