University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Blue-Gold Meet First Up For Swimming & Diving
10/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Heat Sheet | Blue-Gold Roster & Order of Events
PITTSBURGH – With only one week to go until the season officially gets underway, the Pitt swimming and diving team will get some practice in the pool with its annual Blue-Gold Intrasquad Meet on Friday, Oct. 3 at 2:30 p.m. at Trees Pool.
The Panthers are coming off their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference in which the women took eighth and the men ninth at the Conference Championships back in March. This year, Pitt will look to improve its final standings with the majority of its top swimmers and divers back once again, plus a crop of talented new freshmen.
MEN TO WATCH AT BLUE-GOLD
BLUE
It was recently announced that senior Luke Nosbisch, who participated in the Senior Nationals this past summer, qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the 200-m breaststroke, which he holds the school record in. He will be joined additional school record holders junior Mack Rice (200-m fly, 200-m IM) and senior Kourosh Ahani (100-m fly) on the Blue squad.
Those three, along with junior Sean Heiden, who is also on the Blue team, own the 200-m Medley Relay record at Pitt. Heiden posted the two fastest times in the 50-m free last year.
Two more swimmers to watch out for are juniors Martin Vogel and Matthew Tankle. Both held down the top times on the team last year in the 500-m free and 100-m back, respectively.
Looking to lead the time on the diving board is Tony Galante, who as a freshman, had the top scored from both the 3M and platform in 2013-14.
GOLD
Just like Nosbisch, sophomore Zach Lierley will also represent Pitt at the 2016 Olympic Trials, but in the 200-m backstroke, an event in which Lierley had the five fastest times last year, including a performance at the ACC Championships that was just 1.1 seconds off the school record. Lierley also posted the school record in the 400-m IM last year.
Junior David Sweeney will hold down the fort in the middle distance freestyle races as he had the top times in both the 100 and 200 last year. Likewise, sophomore Scott Simmer should be out in front in the longer distance after he recorded the top three times in each the 1000 and 1650 last season.
The senior-heavy Gold team also boasts Jon Lierley, Joey Notarianni, Sean Rhinehart, Tyler Matheny and Harris Bergman. Matheny and Bergman compete in the diving events, with Bergman having a chance to dethrone Galante’s top performances from last year.
WOMEN TO WATCH AT BLUE-GOLD
BLUE
The Blue women will be led by Pitt’s only NCAA qualifier from last year junior Kaleigh Ritter, who holds the school records in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,650-m free. The only other individual record holder from Pitt that will be on the Blue roster is Tatyanna Sarjeant. At the ACC Championships, she set the 400-m IM time to beat.
Seniors Dani des Tombe and Cam Dixon and juniors Bethany DeWitt and Mackenzie Meixner were all a part of relay teams that set school records during the 2013-14 season and will help bolster an already strong Blue team.
Between des Tombe and Ritter, the freestyle events should be in control by Blue, with both swimmers holding at least the top three times in the 100-m free and up.
GOLD
Loaded with talent equal enough to compete against the Blue squad is the Gold team, highlighted by super sophomore Kinga Cichowska, who set school records in the 100- and 200-m breaststroke as a freshman in 2013-14. Along with Cichowska, junior Blair Wegescheide and sophomore Melissa Pocsai can also claim school records, teaming together in the 200-m Medley Relay last year.
Although Blue might have the freestyle events locked down, Gold will be able to compete in every other event. Wegescheide has been dominant in the backstroke events, especially the 100-m back where she held to top five times from a year ago.
Senior Emily Bolek, who held the top three times in the 200-m fly last year, will look to take over the void left open by departed graduate Veronica Lee.
And while Gold can’t quite match Blue’s strength in the freestyle, it sure makes up for it in diving, where sophomore Rachel Saunders and junior Samantha Winkelmann combined for all of the top scores in the 1M, 3M and platform.
UP NEXT
For its first dual meet of the season, Pitt will host conference rival Duke on Saturday, Oct. 11, beginning at 11 a.m. at Trees Pool. This will mark the first time in at least 10 years the Panthers open up the season with a conference mate.
