Panthers Honor Seniors, Sweep Western Pennsylvania Invitational

Friday, January 26

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday

Pitt

Western PA Invite

Panthers Honor Seniors, Sweep Western Pennsylvania Invitational

1/27/2018 5:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Full Results (PDF)

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh swimming & diving teams finished the regular season by dominating the Western Pennsylvania Invitational as the Pitt women earned five dual meet victories while the Panthers also won twice on the men's side to complete an undefeated weekend.

With this weekend's victories, the Pitt women finish the regular season with a 15-2 dual-meet record, while the Panthers tallied a mark of 8-3 in duals on the men's side in 2017-18.

"We really enjoyed ourselves today," Pitt swimming & diving head coach John Hargis said. "It was fun to watch so much fast swimming, with a school record and lots of personal-best times. We did a lot of good things in this meet, which was nice as we prepare to get rest and sharpen up for ACCs in a few weeks."

See below for all of the team scores from this year's Western Pennsylvania Invitational as Pitt hosted the annual meet against California (PA), Carnegie Mellon, Clarion, Duquesne and Saint Francis (PA).

Saturday was a day of celebration as Pitt swimming & diving honored its four seniors—swimmers Boris Kulizhnikov, Lina Rathsack and Amanda Richey and diver Meme Sharp—before the action began.

"They're all just good, quality people who are also very talented," Hargis said of the Pitt seniors. "They've been great role models for the other student-athletes in our program. We can't thank them enough for their contributions to Pitt swimming & diving."

Once the swimming started, one of the Panthers' younger standouts—sophomore Madelyn Shaffer—also provided a moment to celebrate by breaking one of Pitt's oldest reigning swimming records.

As Pitt emerged victorious in 26 of the 28 swimming events Saturday, Shaffer's Pitt record 200-yard fly time of 1:59.20 stole the show. Shaffer became the first Pitt woman to swim the event in under two minutes, breaking Agnes Mago's previous school record of 2:00.16 that had stood since 2008.

Winning the 200 fly by more than 10 seconds with a Pitt-record time highlighted Shaffer's day, but she also won the 200 free (1:49.51) and 500 free (4:56.84) to complete an incredible individual day for the sophomore swimmer from Springfield, Ohio.

Eight other Panthers also won multiple events on Saturday.

On the men's side, Armin Remenyi triumphed in the 1000 free (9:47.55) and 100 free (45.08), Eben Vorster won the 200 free (1:40.05) and 200 IM (1:54.07), Bence Szucsik took the 100 back (49.21) and 200 back (1:45.41), Brian Ramsey collected the 100 breast (56.09) and 200 breast (1:58.87) and Luke Smutny earned the 100 fly (48.62) and 200 fly (1:45.46).

For the Pitt women, Rathsack won the 50 free (23.39) and 200 breast (2:17.24) in her final home meet, while Shan Hochkeppel took the 100 back (54.66) and 200 IM (2:07.15) and Valerie Daigneault triumphed in the 100 free (49.95) and 100 fly (54.98).

Also winning individual swimming events for Pitt were Shahar Menahem (1000 free, 10:26.81); Maddy Thomas (200 back, 2:02.73); John Fauteux (50 free, 20.98); and Brian Lovasik (500 free, 4:34.80). The Panthers also won the women's 200 medley relay (1:44.41), men's 200 medley relay (1:30.67) and men's 200 free relay (1:23.82).

Following her historic diving heroics Friday at Trees Pool, Sharp swam competitively for the first time in her career, anchoring a Pitt women's 200 free relay team to a third-place finish in her heat, continuing a tradition of Pitt senior divers swimming a 50-yard freestyle leg to cap their Panther careers.

The Pitt swimming & diving teams will spend the next few weeks preparing for the ACC Championships, which will be held in Greensboro, N.C. The women and divers will be in action from Feb. 14-17, while the men will compete at the conference meet from Feb. 21-24.

Here is a full rundown of the Western Pennsylvania Invitational dual scores:

Men
Pitt 240, Carnegie Mellon 59
Pitt 242, Clarion 41
Carnegie Mellon 217, Clarion 68

Women
Pitt 249, California (PA) 38
Pitt 234, Carnegie Mellon 65
Pitt 247, Clarion 44
Pitt 211, Duquesne 88
Pitt 241, Saint Francis (PA) 53
Carnegie Mellon 193, Clarion 98
Carnegie Mellon 239, California (PA) 48
Carnegie Mellon 193, Saint Francis (PA) 100
Clarion 169, California (PA) 95
Duquesne 208, Clarion 80
Duquesne 234, California (PA) 51
Duquesne 189.5, Carnegie Mellon 108.5
Duquesne 203, Saint Francis (PA) 90
Saint Francis (PA), California (PA) 63

#H2P | #H2oP | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook