Sophomore Charlotte Clarke contributed a pair of individual wins to the Cavaliers’ dominant victory against the Panthers, winning the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly.

The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams took to the pool at home Saturday for their first meet at the Aquatic and Fitness Center since last January. Swimming in front of home fans for the first time this season, the No. 11 Cavalier women (7-0) and No. 15 Virginia men’s team (4-3) defeated visiting Pittsburgh by scores of 159-133 and 162-130, respectively.

After battling rival North Carolina last week in a highly anticipated showdown, Virginia avoided an emotional letdown against the Panther men (4-4) and women (4-6).

Racing against a team with less pedigree than the perennially tough Tar Heels did little to subdue the Cavaliers’ competitive spirit as coach Mark Bernardino and his assistants look to decide their lineup for the ACC Championship in February.

“Everybody was pretty excited to have our first opportunity to swim in our pool,” Bernardino said. “We had some nice results. [We had] mixed results but some performances that will help us as a coaching staff make good decisions when it comes time to select our ACC travel squad.”

Neither Virginia team took long to establish its dominance as both the men and women opened the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay.

Senior diver Briggy Imbriglia and freshman teammate JB Kolod set the tone early for the men with a 1-2 finish. Pittsburgh briefly captured an early confidence boost for the women’s team with a 1-2 showing of its own in the diving competition by junior Brittany Disanti and freshman Angelika McGhee.

“JB and I did what we needed to do,” Imbriglia said. “We  got first [and] second, had good scores and that kind of led into the swimming. [The swimmers] just came out [strong] and didn’t look back.”

As soon as the swimming events started, the Cavaliers immediately distanced themselves from the upset-minded Panthers. Sophomore Caroline Kenney, junior Kelly Grant and sophomore Hillary Petersen swept the top three spots for the Virginia women in the 1000 freestyle.

Sophomore Jan Daniec, junior Nathan Vredeveld, and sophomore Serge Gould did likewise in the men’s race, leading the rest of the field at the 500-yard mark and separating from the pack the rest of the way. Kenney and Daniec blew away their next closest competition by 12 and 15 seconds, respectively.

Virginia freshman Kelly Offutt took first in the next event, the 200 freestyle, as she edged her teammate, senior Kelly Flynn, by .02 seconds, winning in 1 minute 50.06 seconds. Senior David Karasek led another sweep for the men in the same event to ensure that the Cavaliers would not lapse into their recent pattern of falling behind early in meets.

Following the hot start, sophomore Charlotte Clarke won her first of two events with a time of 54.78 seconds in the 100 backstroke. Clarke came back later in the meet to win the 100 butterfly, as well.

“We’re about to go into taper so that’s really positive for me to have some fast swims,” Clarke said, alluding to the reduced workout volume ahead for the Cavaliers as they prepare for the postseason.

Clarke was one of five double event winners for Virginia. Imbriglia and Daniec added to their impressive performances by winning the one-meter diving competition and 500 freestyle, respectively.

Other double-event winners included junior Meredith Cavalier in the 50 and 100 freestyle and sophomore Aaron Grey in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.

“My times were all right,” Grey said. “I’m happy that I won both of them. We did the work that we needed to do, and everyone was excited throughout the whole meet. I thought that was pretty important for a team coming together.”

As Pittsburgh struggled to keep pace, junior Adam Maczewski finally gave the Panthers their first victory in a swimming event when he pulled away from sophomore Parker Camp in the 100 backstroke, the eighth event of the day.

The Pittsburgh women did not record a first-place finish until event No. 21, the 200 breaststroke. The Panthers did, however, take first in the women’s one-meter diving thanks to another well-executed routine by McGhee.

“I thought that we did a really a good job, and we’ve been performing well all season,” Clarke said. “It’s really exciting to be undefeated.”

To end the lopsided victory against a potential future ACC opponent — Pittsburgh has an agreement in place to join the conference within the next two years — Flynn and junior Nick Montes de Oca won the 200 individual medley races.

“We’ve been swimming Pitt for many years,” Bernardino said. “For well over 20 years we’ve had an annual dual meet with them so to be able to welcome them into the conference is pretty exciting, and … hopefully they’ll be in the conference sooner rather than later.”