Hempstead, N.Y. - The University of Pittsburgh leads the men's competition and Notre Dame University leads the women's competition after the second day of the 2001 BIG EAST swimming and diving championships, being held at the Goodwill Games Swimming Center.

The Panthers lead the men's competition with 446 points, but the rest of the field is in a tight race. St. John's is in second with 296 points, Rutgers stands in third place (287), Notre Dame is fourth (279.50) and Virginia Tech is behind by just a half point (279) to round out the top five.

The Fighting Irish lead the women's competition with 457.50 points, with Miami in second at 334.50. Rutgers is in third (325.50), Virginia Tech has fourth place (314) and Villanova rounds out the top five for the women (273).

On the men's side, a new 200-yard medley relay BIG EAST record was set by the team from Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights posted a 1:28.85 mark, breaking the previous record set by Pittsburgh in 1998 (1:29.97). For Syracuse, Djordje Filipovic took the 100-yard freestyle title (48.14). During the preliminaries of the 100-yard final, Jaak Saavi of St. John's set a BIG EAST meet record with a 48.10 mark. Also for the Red Storm, defending champion Danilo Perunovic won the 100 yard breaststroke again with a NCAA 'B' cut time of 55.62.

In the women's competition, 2000 Olympian Maddy Crippen of Villanova broke her own record in the 400 IM, posting a 4:11.60, a NCAA 'A' cut and BIG EAST record. Another record was broken in the 200 yard freestyle when Samantha Caetano, a freshman from Rutgers, swam a 1:48.60, an NCAA 'B' time. Kelly Hecking of Notre Dame won the 100-yard backstroke title with a BIG EAST record 54.98 time.