Feb. 4, 2002

PITTSBURGH-Three Pittsburgh swimmers broke Virginia Tech pool records and the No. 17 Panthers won 12 of the 13 events to breeze past the Hokies, 182-61.

Pittsburgh (7-0 overall, 5-0 Big East) won every event but the 200 individual medley on the way to its 11th consecutive dual meet victory.

Sophomore Eric Limkemann (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan), junior Mike Grube (Drexel Hill, Pa./Upper Darby) and fifth-year senior Steve Siler (Chicago, Ill./Westmont) all broke pool records and the Hokies needed a pool record of their own to win the 200 IM.

Limkemann's time of 9:26.01 far outpaced any other swimmers in the pool as he racked up nine points for the Panthers with the first-place finish. Grube broke the pool record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 45.50 seconds. He is currently the top-ranked swimmer in the Big East Conference in that event with a season-best time of 45.03 seconds.

The final pool record set by the Panthers was Siler in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.51 seconds. He topped teammate Eric Drummond (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) by over two seconds to gain another nine points for Pittsburgh.

Other individual winners for the Panthers included Max Von Bodungen (Malmo, Sweden, Borgarskolan) in the 200 free (1:40.51), Grube in the 50 free (20.72 seconds), Blair Beal (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) on the 1-meter diving board, Michael Wells (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown) on the 3-meter board, Von Bodungen in the 200 fly (1:51.47), Limkemann in the 500 free (4:37.94) and Raymond Brush (Katy, Texas/Katy/Nebraska) in the 100 breast (58.34 seconds).

The Panthers also had the best times in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. Siler, Brush, Von Bodungen and Grube won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:32.13 and the 400 freestyle team of Miah Heath (Estes Park, Colo./Estes Park), Adam Webber (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), Michael Demos (McKeesport, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) and Stephen Kilroy (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) finished in first with a time of 3:08.25.

Pittsburgh travels to Charlottesville, Va., to take on 12th-ranked Virginia tomorrow afternoon in the team's last dual meet of the 2001-02 season.