Relay events will be a major factor when the men's swimming and diving team hosts Pitt at 3 tomorrow afternoon in McCoy Natatorium.

"There are a lot of points in relays so a team can do a lot of damage by doing well in that area," Coach Peter Brown said. "We are going to have to perform well, but that's true for both teams."

Captain Brad Semle believes the Panthers may not have enough swimmers to field strong teams in both the first and last relays.

"We can rotate people so that we have our best relays on both ends and still swim everybody in their best event," Semle, a senior, said. "But Pittsburgh doesn't have that luxury because they don't have as many fast sprinters as we do. So their depth might hurt them a little bit."

Pitt coach Dick Bradshaw disagreed.

"We have an All-American relay," he said. "Three of the four guys placed in the NCAAs last year."

Four of Penn State's next five meets will be at home, where the Lions have won 10 of their last 11 meets over the past three seasons. Pitt was the last Eastern team to beat Penn State in dual meet competition (1987).

Although Penn State won last year's matchup, 151-92, Brown expects Pitt to give his team more of a challenge tomorrow.

"We can't afford to have any off races," Brown said. "It is going to be a close enough meet that we could run into some problems if we don't have a solid effort from everybody.

"I think as far as us matching up with them in specific events we are going to be tested in each event," he continued. "I don't know if there is any event where we can say we have a big edge or they have a big edge."

Semle said a strong showing is important because the Eastern Seaboard Championships are just seven weeks away.

"It's the first home meet of the spring so we have the opportunity of really starting the spring off well," he said. "With Easterns just around the corner, anytime we do well in a tough meet will help the team tremendously."

A television appearance is also an added incentive for the Lions. The meet will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 20 on WPSX. Penn State swimming has never been televised on WPSX.

Jerry Sawyer, broadcast operations manager for WPSX, said the broadcast is part of his station's winter sports package. He foresees more televised swimming in the future depending upon the success of next weekend's broadcast and schedule availability.

Production director Bruce Dunn said he does not expect any major problems, but said low lighting could cause minor difficulties.

"We're planning on doing a lot more coverage," Dunn said. "This is just our first experience with swimming to see if it works. I'm sure it will, but this will show others that we can do more sports and more television coverage on sports since we are moving into the Big 10."