Pitt Women Cap ACCs with Two Records, Top-10 Finishes

Wednesday, February 20

Greensboro, NC

Pitt

ACC Women's Championships

Pitt Women Cap ACCs with Two Records, Top-10 Finishes

2/23/2019 10:15:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Full Meet Results (PDF)

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Pitt women's swimming posted two top-10 individual finishes with school records and finished with several scoring performances on Saturday to conclude the 2019 ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Valerie Daigneault and Madelyn Shaffer both had historic swims in their consolation finals. Daigneault won the ACC's 200-yard backstroke B Final to place ninth and lowered her own school record in the event with a time of 1:54.08. Shaffer also dropped her own school record in the 200-yard butterfly by more than a second and secured an impressive 10th-place finish with a time of 1:56.88.

"Val and Maddie had outstanding swims tonight," Pitt head coach John Hargis said. "We knew they had that in them. Daigneault was great in the backstroke events at this meet and will have even more to offer next season as a senior. And Shaffer really had a breakout performance tonight to drop so much time off her 200 fly record, and we know she'll be key for us next year as well."

The Panthers concluded the ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships in 10th place as a team with a points total of 334.

"We had a lot of great individual performances throughout this meet, but overall we didn't perform at the level that I know we're capable of," Hargis added. "We started slow on the first day, set ourselves back and let the nerves get to us at times. I'm disappointed because these student-athletes worked so hard all season, and I'm so proud of their efforts. I think we're a better team than we showed here."

In the final event of the meet, Pitt's 400-yard freestyle relay of Valerie Daigneault, Camryn Forbes, Madelyn Shaffer and senior Rachel Brown finished 10th in a season-best time of 3:19.48 to score the final 34 points of the four-day event for the Panthers.

Also scoring Pitt team points during Saturday evening's session, Sarah Giamber and Colleen Daday conquered the 1,650-yard freestyle mile to post top-20 finishes. Giamber placed 14th in 16:37.61, while Daday took 18th with a time of 16:49.35. Camryn Forbes also posted her best career time in the 200-yard backstroke to finish 19th in 1:55.78.

Pitt's four women's divers in Greensboro competed on 1-meter springboard on Saturday afternoon. Krista Jones paced the Panthers with a 25th-place finish with 215.55 points, Amy Read took 34th with a score of 195.60, Cortnee Williams came in 37th at 172.50 points and Lisa Coe placed 40th at 162.55

The pair of freshman men's divers representing the Panthers also finished their ACC Championships, competing on platform. Josh Parquet took 27th with a scoring total of 190.10, while Wesley Ahart placed 29th at 182.50 points.

"We're disappointed with our diving points total at ACCs this year, but with more than half of our team being freshmen, we're still excited for what the future holds," Pitt diving coach Katie Hazelton said. "These divers have the ability to perform at a high level, but they definitely felt the nerves at this meet. We need to go home and develop the confidence they need in order to dive how they are capable of. I'm looking forward to working with this group to finish this season strong at NCAAs as we continue to build the Pitt diving program in order to be more successful at future ACC Championships."

Numerous other Panthers were in action during Saturday morning's swimming session in Greensboro.

In the 200-yard backstroke, Shahar Menahem, Shan Hochkeppel and Kathleen Lynch took 35th, 36th and 37th with times of 1:59.77, 1:59.92 and 2:00.55, respectively. Barb Schmele finished 43rd in the event in 2:03.79, while Colleen Daday placed 46th in 2:04.29.

The 100-yard freestyle prelims saw Pitt senior Rachel Brown take 37th in 50.67, Kailyn Swantek place 44th with a personal-best time of 51.38, Madison Nalls finish 45th in 51.53 and Lauren Kelly claim 51st in 52.27.

Battling in the 200-yard breaststroke, freshman Dakota Elliott concluded her strong ACC debut with a 30th-place finish in 2:16.92, while Katy Miller took 37th in 2:24.14.

Jacqueline Hendrix finished 34th in the 200-yard butterfly prelims in 2:06.30, while senior Meghan Joram placed 38th in the event in 2:13.81.

Joram also competed for the final time in college in Saturday afternoon's 1,650-yard freestyle preliminary heats, placing 27th with a season-best time of 17:15.45.

The Pitt men's swimming team will travel to Greensboro on Monday before the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships conclude with men's swimming events next Wednesday through Saturday. The Panthers will be looking to better their 10th-place team finish with 324.0 points from last year's conference meet.

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