Panthers Set Three School Records in Senior Meet

Saturday, January 26

Pittsburgh, PA

SWIM: 12 PM

Pitt

Western PA Invite

Panthers Set Three School Records in Senior Meet

1/26/2019 5:30:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Full Results (PDF)Photo Gallery

PITTSBURGH—A trio of University of Pittsburgh swimming school records fell on Saturday at Trees Pool as the Panthers completed a dominant swimming & diving performance at the annual Western Pennsylvania Invitational.

Sophomore Blaise Vera dropped his own Pitt record in the 50-yard freestyle twice on Saturday. First, he won the event with a time of 19.62 that bested his previous low mark of 19.66 from the Ohio State Invitational in November. He then led off the victorious men's 200-yard freestyle relay with a 50-yard dash of 19.55 seconds to bring the Pitt record down even further.

Following Vera's great start, Ellis Cannon, Armin Remenyi and Alec Hoch finished off the fastest men's 200-yard freestyle relay in school history. In the final event of the day, the Panthers broke the program's oldest relay record on the books (since 2006) by finishing first with a time of 1:19.52.

Perhaps even more eye-catching than those two records, Vera also swam what is almost certainly the program's first sub-19-second 50-yard freestyle free split on Saturday, leading the Pitt men's 200-yard medley relay team to victory with a remarkable anchor time of 18.94 seconds.

Junior Madelyn Shaffer also lowered her school record in the 200-yard butterfly, dominating the race with a final time of 1:58.14 that edged her previous Pitt record of 1:58.42.

"With how hard we're currently training, it's surprising to be setting school records at this time of year," Pitt head coach John Hargis said after the meet. "But it's a credit to the student-athletes and just how talented and hard-working they are. With so many fans and alumni here today, it was great to see Blaise, Maddie and the men's 200 free relay make Pitt swimming history. It's also a tremendously exciting sign of what's to come for our team at the ACC Championships next month. We have so much more to offer in so many events."

The Panthers also honored the program's five senior swimmers on Saturday, giving a sendoff to Rachel Brown, Meghan Joram, John Fauteux, Brian Lovasik and Aaron Sett in their final home meet at Trees.

While three Pitt school records fell and five beloved seniors were honored, the Panthers showcased their overall depth as well on Saturday, dominating the Western Pennsylvania from start to finish.

After Pitt divers had won the four springboard events on Friday, the Panthers followed that up with a perfect 28-for-28 Saturday in swimming.

For the Pitt men, Vera (50 free, 100 fly), Eben Vorster (200 fly, 200 IM) and Bence Szucsik (100 back, 200 back) won multiple events while a host of other Panthers – including seniors Lovasik and Sett – also earned singular individual wins.

On the women's side, Pitt was led by event-winning freshmen Dakota Elliott (100 breast, 200 breast, 200 IM) and Madison Nalls (100 free, 500 free) and junior Valerie Daigneault (200 free, 200 back), who all earned first place in several events.

All of those individual triumphs helped the Pitt men come away with two dominant wins, while the Panthers earned five women's team victories.

A full listing of team scores from the 2019 Western Pennsylvania Invitational are below:

Final Men's Team Scores
Pitt 233, Carnegie Mellon 65
Pitt 243, Clarion 48
Carnegie Mellon 228, Clarion 62

Final Women's Team Scores
Pitt 247, Carnegie Mellon 52
Pitt 248, California (PA) 30
Pitt 243, Clarion 54
Pitt 245.5, Duquesne 45.5
Pitt 249, St. Francis (PA) 37
Clarion 188, California (PA) 70
Duquesne 197, California (PA) 57
St. Francis (PA) 154, California (PA) 68
Carnegie Mellon 190, Clarion 107
Duquesne 176, Carnegie Mellon 113
Carnegie Mellon 194, St. Francis (PA) 92
Duquesne 182, Clarion 101
St. Francis (PA) 152, Clarion 121
Carnegie Mellon 226, California (PA) 51
Duquesne 195, St. Francis (PA) 75

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