An early-February winter chill wasn't enough to cool down the intensity inside Joe C. Trees Pool in Pittsburgh this past weekend.

The No. 17 Penn State men's swimming and diving team suffered a 128-115 defeat to the No. 19 Pittsburgh Panthers on Friday evening.

The flames of this already intense intrastate rivalry were stoked up another notch on the Panthers' senior recognition night. The Nittany Lions were able to squelch some of the inferno with dominating races from the usual performers, but in the end they succumbed to the heat.

"It was nip and tuck the whole way," Penn State swimming and diving coach Bill Dorenkott said.

"[The Panthers] were ready to go, there's no question about that, and they got the better of us. In terms of how we competed, we raced pretty well for where we are right now as a program and where we are as a team."

The Lions took first in both the 400-yard medley relay, which included John Lutz, Dan Velez, Matt Haupt and Eugene Botes, and the 400-yard freestyle relay that comprised Todd Minnier, Daryl Northrop, Botes and Lutz.

Minnier also captured individual victories in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle.

Other first-place finishers included Haupt in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard butterfly, and Velez in the 200-yard breaststroke.

It was a valiant effort by the Lion swimmers, but the consistency of a championship-caliber team was not on display throughout the meet.

"We got dumped in a couple areas where we shouldn't have," Dorenkott said. "We just didn't have consistent performances across the entire meet."

From Dorenkott's perspective, this non-conference loss is nothing to get worked up about when considering the long-term goals of this year's team.

The primary goal of the Lions' coaching staff is preparation for the team to peak during the NCAA Championships. Second on the list is competing at the Big Ten Championships, and the least of Dorenkott's and his staff's concerns are dual meets.

Pittsburgh was the team's last dual meet before the Big Ten Championships kick off on Feb. 27. The time between now and then will be utilized efficiently in resting and fine-tuning the Lion swimmers.

The rigor of daily practices will see a considerable decrease in volume and intensity. Some of the morning practices will be eliminated, and even some of the afternoon practices will be tailored back a notch. All of these adjustments are geared toward resting the team for its most important stretch of the season.

"We're certainly not as sharp as we need to be, but I think we're on track for where we need to be for Big Tens and NCAA's," Dorenkott said. "When I look at our three priorities, I'd say we are on track."