3-1-2017

The Pitt News

Effects of fracking are Earth shaking Page 6

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | march 1, 2017| Volume 107 | Issue 133

Film series highlights Latin American culture

FIGHTING WITH FEATHERS

Max Datner

Staff Writer A Brazilian boy, through tears, told his onscreen caretaker in Portuguese how much he missed his mother.

While watching him, a crowd of about 65 students and faculty sipped soda and took notes as English subtitles of his words crop up on a projected screen in Parran Hall Tuesday. The audience gathered to watch “The Second Mother,” a Brazilian film about a live-in housekeeper in Sao Paulo, as part of Latin America in Motion — a university film series designed to bring Latin American films to Pitt.

With funding from the Year of Diversity grant, the Center for Latin American Studies and the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures organized the series to feature free screenings of films from Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Guatemala. The Center has screened films with subtitles in Parran Hall on select Tuesday nights since late January and will continue to do so until early April.

Angelina Cotler, the associate director of the Center for Latin American Studies, held eight similar film series while working at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She brought the idea with her when she joined Pitt’s CLAS earlier this school year.

The films will represent three languages: See Latin Movies on page 4

Yueru Wu (left) and Alexandra Richter participate in a pillow fight sponsored by the Resident Student Association in the WPU on Tuesday night. Julia Zhu STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Pitt raises more than $5 million, celebrates milestone Amanda Reed

Assistant News Editor Though Pitt raised more than $5 million Wednesday, pulling from donors across all 50 states — one of the day’s biggest individual winners was the Club Tennis team.

For the University’s 230th anniversary, Pitt hosted its first annual day of giving, raising $5,543,591.56. More than 5000 donations came in from across the country, and the money will spread across many of

Pitt’s schools, programs and student organizations. The most donors in the student organization challenge turned out for the Club Tennis team — meaning the club will get all of the funds it raised plus a $5,000 matching donation from an anonymous source.

Senior Andrew Friedman, captain and co-president of the Pitt Club Tennis Team, said the club had a strategy to help cinch the top spot.

“We targeted members of our team, and

a bunch of students and younger people to give a small amount,” he said.

In the school participation category, the School of Pharmacy saw the highest number of donors — and will receive an additional $25,000 — followed by the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the University’s Johnstown campus.

The day had three main goals according to its website: to decrease future student See Day of Giving on page 3

News

SGB meeting turnout low after recent election Nolan Roosa

Progressives, attended the town hall meeting to said. get their club engaged in the community as well Two clubs on campus — Fossil Free Pitt CoStaff Writer alition and Pitt Progressives — used the time as to hold SGB accountable.

All of the candidates for Student Govern“There were a lot of promises with the new to update SGB on their efforts toward political, ment Board president this year — including social and economic campaigns on campus. administration coming in to make everything President-elect Max Kneis — considered town FFPC is pushing the board of trustees to divest more transparent,” Tasker said, referring to the hall style meetings as part of the solution to en$26 million of the University’s endowment from recently elected SGB president and board memgaging students in SGB. The two town halls that have already taken place in Nordy’s Place might give next year’s board ideas for running their own. At the now-monthly town halls, SGB suspends board reports — updates on initiatives it is currently working on — and instead devotes the time to listening to student concerns. The board began these town hall meetings in January as a way to encourage more student involvement.

So far, turnout has been low. Despite a promising number of student voters in last week’s elections, only six students used this new avenue to voice their opinions at Tuesday’s meeting.

Discussions touched on the difficulty of finding university policies to students looking for board support for the faculty and graduate student union. The board listened intently as members frantically scribbled notes and responded to each student’s request with an invitation to set up a meeting to discuss the matter further.

“This is the space where we want to hear people’s ideas,” Sydney Harper, SGB’s executive vice president, said Tuesday. “And then we want to have another time where we can sit and talk more in-depth about this. This is what we are Board member Arlind Karpuzi speaks to students during second SGB town here for: to engage with students and have the hall meeting. Wenhao Wu SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER issues they care about right here on the table.” fossil fuel resources. Pitt Progressives outlined bers for the 2017-18 academic year. “We want In addition to town hall meetings, Harper plans to make Pitt a sanctuary campus, meaning to see that happen now and keep that process said board members were available to talk to the University would protect undocumented going.” students at least 15 hours of the week: 10 durTasker, a junior studying anthropology, immigrants. ing their mandatory office hours, as well as three The group highlighted what this would spoke mostly about the group’s efforts to supboard meetings on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sunmean for the University and asked SGB to work port the faculty and graduate student employee days. as a liaison between students and the adminis- union campaign. She said she was expecting the Previously, students would have to wait for board to schedule the more in-depth conversatration. the open floor portion following board reports, “We can’t speak about what the administra- tion for a later date but is excited to sit down which Kneis – currently the VP of finance and tion is going to do or is doing, but we can collect with representatives to “really start working on president-elect — worried could deter students what students are thinking and figure out a way these issues.” from showing up.

“We’re not always happy with the immeto get the students’ voices heard, because that is “The avenue of the town hall is not meant to diacy of the responses, but hey, it’s politics, and what we’re here for,” Harper said. address and solve issues — it makes us aware of Becca Tasker, the social media chair for Pitt it’s process, and you have to keep the pressure issues that students are passionate about,” Kneis

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on,” Tasker said. “Our game plan is to be a pain in the ass but in the best way possible, [because] our goal is to make the best environment for all students.”

Sage Lincoln, an organizer with the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition, said she came to the meeting to keep SGB in the loop with updates on their efforts to encourage Pitt to divest from fossil fuels.

Ultimately, she hopes SGB will pass a resolution in support of divestment as they have done in the past with other environmental and social issues, including the Bring Your Own Bag campaign and the real food challenge.

“There’s no golden bullet, but [the resolution could] show the administration the student body stands in unison with this issue,” Lincoln, a senior geology, ecology and urban studies major, said.

Allocations American Institute for Chemical Engineers requested $2,000 for a regional conference. The board denied in full.

Pitt Rugby Football Club requested $1939.48 to attend the Cherry Blossom Tournament. The board approved in full.

Engineers for a Sustainable World requested $1,870 to attend the ESM Conference. The board approved in full.

Chem-E Car requested $1,880.80 for a regional competition. The board approved $1,879.20 and denied $1.60.

Reformed University Fellowship requested $1,772.40 to attend the RUF conference. The board approved in full.

Men’s Ultimate Frisbee requested $3,539.12 to attend the Stanford Invitational. The board approved in full.

Musical Theatre Club requested $1,662.04 for production of The Rocky Horror Show. The board approved in full.

Exercise Science Club requested $3,397.57 to attend the ACSM Health and Fitness Summit. The board approved $1,855.80 and denied $1,511.77.

Pitt South Asian Student Association requested $2,432.54 for their 2017 show. The board approved $2,326.64 and denied $105.90.

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Day of Giving, pg. 1 loan debt through increased donations to scholarships, to reconnect with the Pitt community by building a sense of pride and to give the community an opportunity to be part of a large fundraising effort.

“The purpose of this event is for community outreach and to bring support on the day of University’s founding,” said Melissa Graff, a data specialist in the Office of Institutional Advancement.

Most of the money raised will go toward scholarship funding — useful for students trying to pay hefty tuition costs at Pitt.

There are more than 44 million borrowers with $1.3 trillion in student loan debt in the United States, according to The Institute for College Access and Success. The average student in the Class of 2016 has $37,172 in student loan debt. In Pennsylvania, that number is $34,798 and is among the highest in the country, along with New York and Michigan.

Although donors can give to the University whenever they please — the University brought in more than $50 million in donations in 2016, according to the

2017 Pitt Factbook — this is the first specific fundraising day for the University said Alex Rigby, annual programs coordinator for the Office of Institutional Advancement.

“We decided that highlighting Pitt’s Founders’ Day was the perfect day to launch this new initiative that is meant to celebrate Pitt’s commitment to education and innovation,” she said.

The class of 2017 and recent alumni were also included in the fundraising ask.

Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and his wife, Karen, offered to donate $10,000 to the General Scholarship Fund if 230 young alumni — or students who graduated in 2013-2017 — donated. In total, 577 alumni challenged Gallagher’s wager, meaning the Chancellor will have to pay up.

According to Rachel Stachelrodt, an administrative assistant in the Office of Institutional Advancement, Pitt Day of Giving is about students showing as much enthusiasm for their alma mater as donors do.

“The day is all about making the student body and young alumni aware of how they can impact the University directly,” she said. “They can be overwhelmed with the concept of giving when it’s already scary.

DAY OF GIVING BREAKDOWN

$5,543,591.56 TOTAL AMOUNTT RAISED D

577

1.$25K

SCHOOL OF PHARMACY

2.$20K 3.$12.5K

SCHOOL OF HEALTH AND REHAB SCIENCES

PITT JOHNSTOWN

NUMBER OF YOUNG ALUMNI THAT DONATED FOR THE CHANCELLOR’S CHALLENGE

They don’t need to donate a huge amount.”

Donors were able to designate where their gift goes from a list of schools, programs and student organizations. For Pitt Day of Giving, people could donate online, over the phone, by mailing a check to the Office of Institutional Advancement or by visiting donation tables set up at the ground floor of Hillman Library, near the Cathedral Cafe of the Cathedral of Learn-

ing and in the William Pitt Union.

Donors could also donate to various University funds, including the General Scholarship Fund, which is a fund for needbased scholarships, and the Pitt Fund, which provides financial resources to the areas of greatest need within the University community like educational programs in science, technology and medicine.

See Day of Giving on page 4

The Pitt News SuDoku 3/1/17 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

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March 1, 2017

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The Pitt news crossword 3/1/17

Latin Movies, pg. 1

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Spanish, Portuguese and Kaqchikel, an indigenous language of Central America. Because the actors are speaking natively, Cotler said it’s a fantastic way for students — primarily undergraduates — to learn to speak authentically.

“If you are learning to speak Portuguese or Spanish, it helps listening to people in their own language,” Cotler said.

The series will feature films that deal with topics of economic crisis, crime within the Catholic church and arranged marriage, among others.

Junyoung Verónica Kim, an assistant professor of visual culture and media in Pitt’s Spanish department, said the films come from varying genres, regions and nations.

“So [Latin America In Motion] shows the kind of changing and transforming nature of Latin America,” she said.

Because the films are shown in an academic environment, students can turn to nearby sources for clarification of confusing language or scenes.

A Pitt professor well-versed in the native culture of each film hosts a post-screening discussion to give their impressions and to answer student questions about topics related to the films — economics, gender relations or indigenous populations, for example.

The Feb. 28 screening of “The Second Mother” was followed by a discussion of Brazil’s class relations and economic divisions. Various attendees related their personal experience living in the country to what was shown in the film

Day of Giving, pg. 3 They can also write in an organization or program if it’s not among those listed.

Following the Tennis Club, the Men’s Glee Club and the Pitt Rowing Club earned second and third place respectively in the student organization challenge.

The Men’s Glee Club will get $2,500 and Rowing will get $1,500.

In the past, the closest thing to a daywide fundraising event was Pitt TAG Day, which began on Nov. 2, 2016. On TAG Day, students thanked donors by posting selfies on social media with large gold paper tags found on campus using the hashtag #PittTagDay. All participants were eligible to win prizes such as Pitt merchandise and an iPad if they posted a selfie on social media using the hashtag. The day’s sole purpose was to thank donors for their contributions to the University, according to Graff.

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with some sharing stories about family members who worked as housekeepers, like the film’s main character.

Kim will be introducing “The Club,” by Chilean director Pablo Larraín, March 14. She says the film, which tells the story of small-town priests accused of child abuse, subtly relates to her research on violence, borders and the neoliberal state, which takes on new meanings amidst a changing political era.

Specifically, she sees the film as commentary on the “marginalization and criminalization of [Latin American] populations.”

Anna Perry, a junior majoring in rehabilitative science, said the discussion following the screening of “Open Cage,” which focuses on Mexico’s economic struggles and generational divide, helped her to understand the themes in the movie and how they related to Mexican culture.

“My expectation was just to watch a movie,” she said. “But we discussed it afterward, and [professor Armando García] talked about the theme of the movie and how it tied in with what was going on historically [in Mexico].”

There were 20,000 to 22,000 Latinos living in Allegheny County in 2016 — and that number is growing. Looking to the future, Cotler said she planned to make a series like this a continued source of Latin American culture in the city of Pittsburgh.

“It’s a very good opportunity to see common stories, you know — universal stories — but at the same time very unique in the sense of very Latin American context,” Cotler said. “I think that this should be the start of a new tradition.”

In Pitt’s latest fundraising campaign, which ended in 2013 and spanned 16 years, the University received $2 billion in donations.

Graff said the Day of Giving is different because it’s a one-day push, especially meant to honor the University’s founding.

“Today is a day we’re asking people to give back, like one big birthday present across all the campuses,” she said.

Emily Bennett, who graduated from the School of Education in 2013, donated Tuesday. She currently works in the Office of Career Development & Placement Assistance as a career consultant for STEM majors and donated to the University Scholarship fund because socio-economic status shouldn’t impact where you attend college, she said.

“It’s important to give back even if you don’t have a lot to give, because every dollar counts,” she said.

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Opinions

column

from the editorial board

Transparency should follow Pitt’s Day of Giving If you’re just now hearing about Tuesday’s Pitt Day of Giving, you probably haven’t checked your email in the past week.

The Day is the first of its kind at Pitt, strategically placed to celebrate the 230th anniversary of the University’s founding.

According to its website, the Day of Giving is meant to inspire the Pitt community to “come together to transform tomorrow” by decreasing future student debt, connecting the community and fostering Pitt pride.

By donating, you can “be a part of something big,” says Pitt.

The Day, which resulted in nearly $5.5 million in raised funds, was certainly big. What should result from this injection of money are small, obvious and sustained changes — and ones that we’ll see immediately.

The goal of working ahead now to create scholarship programs for future Pitt students is admirable, and an innovative way to create more affordable collegiate experiences in the coming years. But many aspects of the Day of Giving are still vague.

We aren’t clear exactly how we will see the donations will benefit future classes. If the Day of Giving is to become a time-honored Pitt tradition — and we hope it does — it’s imperative to increase transparency, so we know the benefits are extending to as many students as possible.

If you donated online, you had an option to give to the Pitt Fund, a general fund of financial resources for University programs in need; to University Scholarships, a fund that offers financial support to need-based students who qualify; to specific Schools or Colleges, Pitt experiences or student organizations within Pitt or to “other.”

If you donated to something other then the Pitt Fund or the University Scholarships, there was many options for where your money can go — with helpful pop up information about specific scholarships or resources it might fund. Some are more vague than others: within the options for

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Pitt experience or student organizations, you can choose to give to different scholarship programs or more general funds dedicated to retaining and attracting faculty, updating facilities or supporting “top strategic priorities” of the unit.

As we move on from this successful fundraising initiative, it’s important to ensure that the Day of Giving is not merely a marketing technique that exploits Pitt pride and community for the sake of money that doesn’t cause sustainable change — we must see real, tangible benefits starting as soon as the donation checks can be cashed.

“The University will be sharing impact stories in the coming future to highlight the impact of donations to Pitt,” said Alexandria Rigby, the annual program coordinator in the Office of Institutional Advancement, in an email to The Pitt News.

Inquires about the millions of dollars in donations should not be satisfied by a few video clips and quotes of first-year students who received scholarships. We, especially current students being asked to donate, need more transparency in where our funds are going and who they are benefitting.

There is not a very high bar for transparency with financial matters at Pitt. The University approved its annual budget for 2016-2017 last July but beyond short explanations for the tuition increases, the amounts the University budgets for more specific issues like scholarships or financial aid is not as readily available.

It would be helpful if Pitt published reports showing exactly how much scholarships are going to increase and how many students will benefit from this money before the next fundraising campaign.

In the next few months, we expect Pitt to keep us updated on impact stories, scholarships and other changes that come from the money collected on the anniversary of our founding yesterday.

Plus, if we’re able to see the direct impacts of this year’s Day of Giving directly, we’ll be more willing to shell out money next year.

PA Quakes prove need for more fracking regulation

Terry Tan SENIOR STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

Nick Eustis Columnist

About 50 miles north of Pittsburgh in Lawrence County, seismic detectors sensed a series of five small tremors last April.

While the quakes were too small to be felt by people, they were unusual for other reasons. The seismographic anomalies didn’t emanate from an area with natural faults, or cracks in the earth that widen over time. Rather, they happened right near a fracking well.

The state’s Department of Environmental Protection confirmed just last week that fracking activity was indeed what caused the tremors, making them the first fracking-related quakes recorded in Pennsylvania – the country’s second largest natural gas producer after a boom in 2012. The quakes didn’t cause any

March 1, 2017

damage, but they are an ominous sign of the environmental dangers of fracking.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is so named because the process involves injecting liquid at high pressure into the bedrock, creating cracks where natural gas can escape. From there, the gas is extracted and processed in refineries.

Drilling for the gas, however, is not the cause of the quakes. Bill Ellsworth, a senior geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told environmental news source E&E News that, “we don’t see any connection between fracking and earthquakes of any concern to society.”

The real cause of tiny tremors is the disposal of wastewater deep underground. In addition to gas, fracking also produces plenty of toxic waste products.

Wastewater disposal wells, where toxic See Eustis on page 7

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Eustis, pg. 6 water is injected thousands of feet in the ground so as not to contaminate drinking water, often operate longer and contribute to the injected fluid even more than fracking does.

“Earthquakes come from [engineers] disposing of waste water underground,” said Eric Beckman, a professor of petroleum engineering at Pitt. Deep-ground injections can open up previously inactive fault lines.

As these old cracks are forced open by machinery, they trigger earthquakes.

We’ve seen these underground rumbles beyond Pennsylvania state lines. Oklahoma, a state that has seen heavy fracking since 1949, has been hit particularly hard by fracking-related quakes. The Sooner state experienced 890 earthquakes above magnitude 3.0 in 2015 alone, including a magnitude 5.8 quake last September.

Joe and Mary Reneau, of Prague, Oklahoma, saw their home nearly decimated by an earthquake caused by wastewater disposal sites nearby. The incident inspired a study in the area that concluded water injection was most likely at fault — no pun intended.

When the couple spoke to a reporter from Mother Jones about the incident in 2013, two years after their chimney had fallen through their roof, they were still living in fear.

“We still feel tremors weekly,” said Reneau. “They rattle our windows.”

The number of earthquakes in the state has increased dramatically since 2008. And while quakes are a natural phenomenon and the link between wastewater wells and tremors is still in need of research, state and federal regulations in Oklahoma shut down 50 wells in the state in 2016.

Concern over these quakes — or the

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effects of fracking on nature — isn’t new.

Fracking practices have stoked the fears of environmentalists for decades. Researchers at the EPA released a report in 1987 highlighting concerns about groundwater contamination resulting from fracking.

And those worries were not unfounded.

EPA scientist Dominic DiGiulio proved in 2013 that fracking waste contaminated the

off into local streams when it rained.

In Pennsylvania alone, the DEP has reported 284 cases of contaminated water due to oil and gas activity.

Furthermore, fracking has used 250 billion gallons of water since 2005 alone.

Throughout the Southwest, where drought has ravaged local aquifers, farmers often find themselves fighting the gas industry for

PA FRACKING BY THE NUMBERS

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OPERATORS

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groundwater in Pavillion, Wyoming, rendering the well water in the town undrinkable.

Wastewater disposal was, again, the cause of the problem. DiGiulio determined that open air frack pits — essentially unlined, uncovered holes in the ground where fracking wastes are disposed — allowed dangerous chemicals to leach into the soil and run

MILLION TOTAL FINES

water. The gas industry giants, more often than not, have the money to win those battles. Farmers in drought-stricken Carlsbad, New Mexico, found their wells bone-dry in 2013 due to demand from fracking wells.

Despite the grave environmental concerns fracking poses, there is a reason for its popularity: natural gas is an excellent

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fuel source, especially when compared to other non-renewables. It is less expensive and more easily stored than other fossil fuels, such as oil or coal, and it burns relatively cleaner than both — making it an attractive option for a transitional fuel as the world slowly moves toward renewable sources, including solar and wind.

Fracking wells already have measures in place to prevent damage to the surrounding ecosystem, but that clearly hasn’t been enough.

“In general, no process is perfect, but folks could do a lot better than they do now with respect to gas and waste leaks,” said Beckman, pointing to the need for more regulations to minimize environmental hazards.

Unfortunately, corporations have the lobbyists and resources to squash most attempts at regulation.

The time and resources required to properly regulate fracking, spent investing in and building up our renewable options, would yield far greater results. The reasons natural gas is better than coal or oil, apart from price, also hold true for solar and wind.

More research and development will help bring the price of renewable energy down, as well as create thousands of new jobs in this new energy sector — good news for Donald Trump supporters too. For a rust belt state like Pennsylvania, which saw many lost jobs with the decline of coal, green energy jobs could breathe new economic life into our struggling countryside.

If the alternative is patching up a flawed drilling system that poisons our water, thickens our air and rumbles our earth, let’s ditch gas and just go green already.

Nick primarily writes on politics and American culture for The Pitt News.

Write to Nick at npe3@pitt.edu.

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Sports

Panthers break three records in first two days of ACCs Kait French Staff Writer

The Panthers impressed their fans yet again over the first two days of the ACC Championship meet, complete with three new records and two record-breaking swims.

With a time of 6:28.37, Eben Vorster, Luke Smutny, Samy Helmbacher and Brian Lovasik broke the team’s record in the 800 freestyle relay. The previous mark of 6:28.61 stood for three years before the Panthers’ effort Monday. Despite the swimmers’ historic performance, the team ultimately placed 10th in the event.

Although the 200 medley relay team did not swim its way onto the record board, redshirt senior Henrique Machado became the first Panther to record a sub-22 second backstroke split in the event on Monday. With a 21.73 time in his leg of the race, Machado along with Nick Stachel, Gabe Larson and Haden Calegan helped Pitt finish in ninth place.

Eben Vorster helped Pitt break the team record in the 800 freestyle relay on Monday John Hamilton VSIUAL EDITOR Sophomore Aaron Sett shattered the team’s 500 freestyle record during Tuesday’s preliminary swim with a time of 4:18.29. Eric Limkemann set the previous mark 13 years ago with a time of 4:23.16. Sett, who came into ACCs seeded 25th in the 500 free, ended up exceeding all expectations by placing

eighth in Tuesday’s final.

In the 200 individual medley, both Larson and senior Zach Lierley crushed Mack Rice’s three-year-old record time of 1:47.41.

With times of 1:46.19 and 1:46.45, respectively, Larson and Lierley each beat the old mark in time trials.

The two swimmers slowed down a little bit in Tuesday night’s finals with respective times of 1:46.94 and 1:47.29, but their efforts were still good enough for 23rd and 24th place.

Head coach John Hargis was thrilled with the success his swimmers enjoyed on Tuesday.

“Today is a great day for Pitt swimming,” Hargis said in a press release. “I’m so pleased for Aaron, Gabe and Zach for their performances today. They really stepped up on a big stage to break school records — and convincingly.”

Despite rewriting the record board, the Panthers have struggled in relation to the rest of the ACC so far in Atlanta. Out of 12 teams, Pitt is currently in ninth place with 251 points.

The Panthers resume action Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. with preliminary races in the 400 IM, 100 Fly, 100 breast and 100 back.

The finals for these events will also be held that night at 6 p.m.

Pitt stung by Yellow Jackets, 61-52 Ryan Zimba Staff Writer

With one game left in the season, Pitt is tied for last place in the conference after another loss Tuesday night.

After the Panthers (15-15 overall, 4-13 ACC) won three of four games over a 10day stretch in mid-February, the team has slipped, losing its third straight contest on Tuesday night to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 61-52.

Senior forward Michael Young put on a strong performance for the Panthers, tallying 16 points on four rebounds. But Pitt’s lack of an inside presence showed again, as the team failed to contain Georgia Tech center Ben Lammers, who led the game in scoring with 20 points on 8-13 shooting.

On top early, the Yellow Jackets took a

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9-2 lead after 3-pointers by Quinton Stephens and Josh Heath. The Panthers offense struggled, making just two of their first seven shots.

Pitt closed the gap over the next couple of minutes, tying the game at 15 apiece on a 3-pointer by redshirt senior guard Chris Jones with 11:48 to go in the half.

After a Georgia Tech timeout, Pitt coach Kevin Stallings subbed out all his starters.

Among the substitutes taking the floor was forward Ryan Luther, who saw his first action in 12 games due to a foot injury he suffered on Jan. 13.

Play was even for the next few minutes as both offenses struggled to score. At the third media timeout, the Yellow Jackets held a one-point lead, 20-19.

With 6:14 to go, Pitt took its first lead since 2-0 on a 3-pointer by senior forward

Sheldon Jeter. The Panthers extended their advantage in the ensuing sequence, going on a 13-2 run to take a 28-22 lead with 3:14 left in the half.

A layup by Georgia Tech’s Tadric Jackson was the only made basket for the rest of the half, and the Panthers led 28-25 at the break.

The opening 20 minutes were even, as the Panthers went 11-30 from the field while Georgia Tech went 10-30. Rebounding was almost identical with Pitt grabbing a 20-19 advantage. Jamel Artis, Cam Johnson and Jeter led the half in scoring with seven points each, while the Yellow Jackets’ scoring was evenly distributed with four players tallying five points each.

Georgia Tech quickly erased the Panthers lead in the second half, tying the game at 31 on a layup by Lammers with 16:17 left.

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The Yellow Jackets took the lead moments later on a pair of Lammers’ free throws.

After both offenses failed to score for over two minutes, Tech’s Justin Moore made a layup with 11:57 to go, extending his team’s lead to 37-33.

The Yellow Jackets went up seven at the midway point of the half, but the Panthers responded, going on a 6-0 run with 3-pointers by Johnson and Young to make it 40-39.

The Panthers retook the lead shortly after on a 3-point play by Young, but Georgia Tech took it right back on a jump shot by Lammers with 5:41 left. Tech maintained the lead for the next couple of minutes, taking a 53-50 lead at the final media timeout with 3:35 on the clock.

Read the rest online at Pittnews.com.

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