Last February, the women's swimming and diving team captured the Eastern Women's Swimming League Championship at Pittsburgh's Trees Hall. Saturday the No. 1 team in the East returned to the scene of its greatest triumph, and came away with a 177.5-122.5 victory over the No. 4 Lady Panthers.

The win improves the Lady Lions record to 6-1, as Pitt drops to 5-2.

"Whenever you beat Pittsburgh, you're happy," Coach Bob Krimmel said. "It's a special meet to win."

Returning to Pitt brought special memories and feelings for many of the swimmers.

"A lot of us sat around saying, 'remember when we were here last time?,' " senior co-captain Kristen Lilly said.

Lilly was once again instrumental in the victory. The Montecito, Calif. native won the 100- and 200-yard freestyles with times of 52.28 and 1:51.61, respectively. She also was part of two important relay wins. First, she teamed with Jen Baird, Sharon Detering and Lori Williams to win the 200-yard medley with a time of 1:49.36.

"Sharon Detering had a great time in the breast-stroke leg of that relay," Krimmel said.

The 200 medley relay is the first event in a dual-meet, and only twice have the Lady Lions not started a meet this season with a win.

"The medley relays are definitely key to start out the meet with a win," Baird said.

Lilly, Christy Rourke, Fran McDermid and Tracey Sheleheda won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:33.66.

"Our free relays are very strong," Lilly said. "I think they're unbeatable. . . definitely on the East coast."

Led by Baird, the freshmen class had an outstanding meet. Baird won three individual events. She swept the two butterfly events, winning the 200 in 2:04.55 and the 100 in 57.91. Baird and fellow freshman Amy Weiss came in first and second, respectively in the 200 individual medley. Baird finished with a time of 2:11.58 and Weiss with a time of 2:12.19.

"I didn't really expect to win it (the 200 individual medley), because it's not my best event," Baird said. "I was happily surprised."

Freshman Janet Worobel also came away with a win in the 200 backstroke at 2:10.32. The 100 backstroke went to senior Lori Williams, who finished with a time of 1:00.05. Williams finished second to Worobel in the 200 with a time of 2:12.52.

"Our freshmen have been a key all year," Krimmel said. "They've come along much more quickly than we expected."

For the first time this season, the Lady Lions did not pick up a win in the diving competition. Amy Schmidt finished third on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards with scores of 255.90 and 248.70, respectively.

"It was that sort of day where everybody chipped in," Krimmel said. "This is one of those wins you can enjoy all year."

The Lady Lions will travel to the Atlantic Coast Conference once again on Saturday, this time to Charlottesville, Va. where they will meet No. 11 Virginia. Penn State's only loss came at the hands of ACC opponent North Carolina.

"We're heading into a tough stretch," Krimmel said. "It's hard to focus on one meet and find time to train."

Notes: The Lady Lions picked up two wins during break. On Dec. 8, the team had an impressive 186-105 win over Princeton. Lilly and Heather Nicholson each won two individual events. One of Lilly's wins included the 200 freestyle in which she defeated freshman sensation Grace Cornelius by .57 seconds. The team also defeated Maryland-Baltimore County on Jan. 6 by the score of 156-110.