ALTOONA — The Pitt-Bradford swim teams split their meet Saturday afternoon with the Penn State Altoona Lions.
The men’s team edged the Lions 92-89, while the women suffered a 114-70 defeat.
Pitt-Bradford’s men’s team collected a total of seven first place finished during the meet. The first win came by way of the 200 medley relay, the first event of the day for the Panthers. Pitt-Bradford’s Corey Koss, Jeff Cattoni, Alex Renwick and Felipe Suntaxi outpaced the competition with a final time of 1:40.96.
Suntaxi went on to place first in his next event, the 1000 freestyle. He touched the wall at 10:55.67 to earn the nine team points for the first place finish.
Next up, the 200 IM went to Corey Koss with a final time of 2:06.44. Koss outswam Altoona’s Adam Hosier by nearly 14 seconds. Suntaxi was back at it for the Panthers with his next top finish in the 100 butterfly. By nearly two seconds, Suntaxi defeated Altoona’s Zachary Jones.
The 100 back belonged to Koss with a time of 54.79, while Renwick grabbed his first solo top finish in the 500 free with a mark of 5:27.99. The final first place tally belonged to Cattoni in the 100 breaststroke. Cattoni outpaced the competition with a time of 1:04.01.
For the women, the group of Elizabeth Prager, Ann Confer, Calli Cody and Wehonna Toth got the Panthers off to a hot start. The four grabbed first place in the first event, the 200 medley relay. Next, it was Prager doing what she does best in the 200 free. She built a commanding lead that ended with her taking the top spot by almost 20 seconds and a final time of 2:06.65.
It was Prager again in the 100 back that gave the women their final win of the day. Prager defeated Altoona’s Allison Wolfenberger by seven seconds with a mark of 1:04.26 to end her strong afternoon.
Pitt-Bradford returns to the pool on Saturday as the Panthers travel to face Buffalo State in Buffalo, N.Y., at 1 p.m.
Cross country completes AMCC Championships
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — The Pitt-Bradford men’s and women’s cross country squads competed in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships on Saturday. The men claimed an eighth place finish, while the women wrapped up the season in ninth place.
For the men, freshman Cody Shock grabbed the top finish for Pitt-Bradford with a final time of 29:35, while fellow freshman Adam Shenk was just behind him with a time of 35:53 that was good for 47th.
Sophomore Eric Gemmell crossed the line at 36:06 for a 48th place finish. Sophomore Christopher Anderson and freshman Josh Shelley rounded out the Panthers racers finishing with times of 36:19 and 38:23, respectively.
The women’s ninth place finish had junior Olivia Schrock ahead of the Panthers’ pack with a time of 28:12, good for 28th place. Sophomore Rachel Piselli was behind Schrock with a mark of 30:10, crossing the line 43rd. Senior Kayla Lukasiewicz-O-Brien was 49th with a time of 32:22.
Freshman Blaire Colley and sophomore Sarah Rice turned in the final times of 33:03 and 34:17. Colley finished 52nd and Rice was 58th.
Volleyball drops a pair on Senior Day
The Pitt-Bradford volleyball team suffered back-to-back defeats on Senior Day by falling to the La Roche Redhawks and the Wells Express, 3-2.
Pitt-Bradford (11-22, 5-4) found a way to rally in each match, but couldn’t deliver the knockout blow to earn the victory either time. The home team fell 25-16, 25-20, 20-25, 20-25 and 11-15 in the first game, before suffering a similar fate in game two, 12-25, 14-25, 25-23, 25-19 and 13-15.
The Lady Panthers opened the match with La Roche (17-17, 5-4) by jumping out to a 2-0 lead. All the momentum appeared to be on Pitt-Bradford’s side of the court when a quick start by the Redhawks to in the third set saw the momentum shift.
From that point forward, everything went the way of La Roche. As the teams opened the fifth set, Pitt-Bradford kept it tight, before falling by four points in the end.
Three Panthers finished with double digit kills as scoring points never seemed to be the issue. Senior Brittany Cumberland, playing in her final regular season matches at the KOA Arena, started her day off with a triple-double. Cumberland totaled 11 kills, 15 assists and 17 digs.
Sophomore Brittany Watts and senior Taylor McMillen each notched 14 kills. Watts also racked up three digs and six total blocks from her frontline position. McMillen added four digs as well.
Senior Peyton Kauffman tallied 18 assists from her setter position and three digs to finish a strong match. Defensively, sophomore Kelsey Repke (23), junior Jenessa Ceprish (26) and freshman Haley Vinelli (22) each had solid outings with 20-plus digs. Ceprish added three kills, while Vinelli added one kill and one assist.
In game two, Wells (23-10, 10-2) took a 2-0 lead only to have the Panthers storm back by stealing the following two sets. In the final set, Pitt-Bradford ran out of gas and the Express grabbed a 15-13 victory.
McMillen’s 15 digs and Cumberland’s 19 assists guided the Panthers back into the match with Wells. McMillen tacked on two assists and one dig, while Cumberland added nine kills and nine digs. She finished one kill and one dig shy of back-to-back triple-doubles.
Kauffman registered another strong performance with 15 assists and four digs. Repke finished with 20 digs, and Vinelli had five kills and 13 digs. Watts added four blocks, as did sophomore Kaitlin McCann.
Pitt-Bradford will enter the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Lady Panthers will host No. 5 Penn State Behrend at the KOA Arena in the first round Wednesday at 7 p.m.
