Jan. 18, 2002

PITTSBURGH-After the first day of competition, the Pittsburgh women's swimming & diving team is behind by a slim 90-77 margin to Maryland and edging Big East rival Villanova, 86-80. Maryland is leading Villanova, 96-71, in the three dual scoring system.

Things started out well for the Panthers in the 1-meter diving competition. Sophomore Jen O'Brien (Verona, Pa./Penn Hills) and senior Moreen O'Brien (Springfield, Ill./Springfield) finished 1-2 with 298.9 and 285.45 points, respectively.

Villanova's Maddy Crippen won the 1650 freestyle in convincing fashion, swimming it in 16:37.64 to top Maryland's Elizabeth Lavell by over eight seconds.

The Panthers kept the lead after three events with a win in the 200 yard medley relay. The team of Carolyne Savini (Egg Harbour Twp., N.J./Holy Spirit), Ryan Redman (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills), Kelli Tielking (Damascus, Md./Damascus) and Jenny Livingstone (Endwell, N.Y./Union-Endicott) won the event with a time of 1:45.50, more than 2.5 seconds faster than Maryland's top team of Lauren Smith, Jillian Martin, Bridget Mallon and Petra Adamkova.

Mallon then edged Villanova's Becky Koch for first place in the 100 butterfly. Mallon swam the four lengths of the pool in 56.59 seconds to record the nine points for the Terrapins.

The Wildcats came back to take the next two events with Tori DeLollo winning the 100 backstroke in 58.48 seconds, a quarter-second faster than Savini, and Crippen edging Lavell by a half-second in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:23.38.

The Terps got another victory in the 100 freestyle when Kelly Bowman swam in front of Becky Koch of Villanova for the final length to win in 52.41 seconds. Savini placed third in that event with a time of 53.03 seconds.

Redman, ranked 11th in the world in the 50 breaststroke, won the 100 breast with a time of 1:04.80. Her 50 split time of just over 30 seconds was one of her top times on the year. Villanova's Brooke Corby finished 1.26 seconds behind with a time of 1:06.06.

In the last event, Maryland broke a 75-75 tie with the Panthers by finishing 1-2 in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Mallon, Bowman, Cynthia Wear and Adamkova won the relay with a time of 1:36.69.

Moreen O'Brien and Karen Thibodeau (Waterloo, Ontario/Bluevale Collegiate) will be honored at their last home dual meets during the second day of competition tomorrow beginning at 9 a.m.