As Pittsburgh’s Katie Cutrell drafted one stride behind Syracuse’s Natalie Mazzetta in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Panthers coach Chuck Knoles tirelessly paced Ted Webster Pool. Along the way, he tightened his lips and made a loud birdlike whistling sound, while pumping his outstretched arms up and down as if he were milking a cow.

For 20 laps, Knoles’ motivation worked. Over the next 20, Mazzetta shifted to a new gear, clicked cruise control and won by a commanding 16.41 seconds.

‘I’m a back-half swimmer, so I try to stay with them in the beginning and just pick it up,’ Mazzetta said. ‘I knew in the back of my head that I had to pick it up, and I was hoping she wouldn’t stay with me.’

She didn’t. But the lopsided races in favor of Syracuse ended there.

In the first Big East meet of their season, the Syracuse men and women swimming teams lost to at home to Pittsburgh Saturday. The men (1-1) fell 154-89, while the women (1-1) lost 155-86. A deep Panthers team, which boasts 36 more athletes than Syracuse, nosed out continuous photo finishes, and the Orange couldn’t recover.

‘We raced well,’ Syracuse coach Lou Walker said. ‘There were a lot of times when the race was close and we didn’t get to the wall first.’

The difference between first and second place was often inconclusive with the naked eye. Pittsburgh won all four relays by two seconds or less and narrowly edged Syracuse in several individual events. The men and women each gave up 10 points during a flurry of four tightly contested losses.

Hungary-native Agnes Mago tipped the first domino by beating Syracuse’s Sarah Manning, 1:55.24 to 1:55.77 in the 200-yard freestyle. The ensuing men’s heat, Boldizsar Kiss lost to Pittsburgh’s Alex McLaren, 1:44.62 to 1:44.77. One event later, Andrzej Dubiel ousted Ryan Corcoran by .12 of a second in the 50-yard free, followed by Cookie McIntyre’s win over Syracuse’s Dani Stein in the 200-yard individual medley by .56 of a second.

Syracuse showed plenty of glimpses but couldn’t convert. After the 15-minute, mid-meet break, the Orange men and women regained momentum with five wins in the next seven events. Mazzetta completed the hat trick with firsts in 200-yard butterfly (2:05.35) and 500-yard freestyle (5:01.97), while teammate Catrina Roth won the 200-yard backstroke. On the men’s side, Ryan Corcoran and Matt Brock went 1-2 in the 100-yard free and Arda Isiksalan outstretched Dubiel by less than half a second in the 200-yard backstroke.

Syracuse’s Kuba Kotynia (200-yard individual medley) and Masha Glukhova (200-yard breaststroke) also earned firsts, but Pittsburgh had too much depth. Knoles’ program is nothing short of a dynasty. The Panthers men won the Big East Championships every year from 1997-2004 and were the runners-up the last two years. The women were Big East champs every season from 1983-1991.

Walker did not use the numbers game as a factor.

‘I’ve always said they got a lane line on each side of you,’ Walker said. ‘There’s only one kid in a lane, and the rest is what it is. The critical factor is that we have to win the close races.’

This weekend, Mazzetta was one of the few closers for SU. The freshman from Suffield, Conn., has won all 10 events she has competed in this season.

‘We felt that she was a helluva athlete and a helluva swimmer, and now we’re seeing that she’s a helluva racer,’ Walker said. ‘She swam the toughest combination of three events today. She’s a heckuva competitor.’

Mazzetta, who has earned personal bests at every meet this season, is quick to credit Walker’s training regimen.

‘I never lifted weights before I came here, so I think that had a lot to do with it,’ Mazzetta said. ‘I love the way that Lou trains us. I don’t feel like I am plateauing at all. I have a lot more in me.’

Walker knows the only remedy for tight defeats is racing in meets. It’s an itch practice can’t scratch.

‘In practice, you work on your stamina and speed,’ he said. ‘The meet comes and you work on your racing. We want to get in better condition, but obviously, you want to get better at racing as well.’

Published on October 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm