Panthers Dominate Denison in Dual Meet

Friday, January 17

Pittsburgh, PA

DIVE: 12 PM, SWIM: 4 PM

Pitt

Denison

Panthers Dominate Denison in Dual Meet

1/17/2020 7:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Results

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh swimming & diving program opened its 2020 home schedule – and three consecutive weekends of meets at Trees Pool – with a resounding display against Denison, winning all 32 events in a Frididay matchup against the NCAA Division III powerhouse.

With the Panthers and Big Red competing against each other for the seventh straight year, Pitt dominated the action throughout the day, winning 28 swimming races and all four diving events.

"We had some impressive performances tonight in front of our crowd at Trees Pool," Pitt head coach John Hargis said after the meet. "We enjoy this annual sprint meet matchup with Denison, who are very well coached and always contend for championships. It allowed our athletes to compete in some different events and different distances, which was a good experience for everyone."

John Hargis Pitt Swimming

Opening the afternoon's action was the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard diving competition, which saw sophomore Amy Read and freshman Dylan Reed both record a pair of individual victories.

Read won with scores of 294.98 on 1-meter and 308.25 on 3-meter, while Reed continued his emergence as a talented rookie diver for the Panthers by posting winning totals of 327.83 on 1-meter and 355.05 on 3-meter.

The loudest cheer of the afternoon by the Pitt divers came for sophomore Josh Parquet, who posted a career-best score on 1-meter springboard of 312.60, which was good enough to give him a qualifying score for this year's NCAA Zone Diving Meet in Morgantown, W.Va.

"The credit goes to the athletes, who have been training extremely hard," Pitt diving coach Katie Hazelton said. "We showed some improvement today, which was a nice step forward as we aim to be at our best for the ACC Championships and NCAA Zone Diving Meet in a few weeks."

After a mid-day break, swimming started at 4 p.m. and saw the Panthers just keep winning and winning.

By the end of the action, seven Pitt swimmers had won multiple events: Kayla Graham (50 Back, 50 Fly, 100 IM), Valerie Daigneault (200 Free, 100 Fly), Kate Fuhrmann (50 Breast, 100 Breast), Serhii Ahadzhanian (50 Fly, 100 Fly), Cooper van der Laan (50 Breast, 100 Breast), Blaise Vera (50 Free, 100 Free) and Eben Vorster (500 Free, 100 IM).

Pitt Swimming

Also winning single races for the Panthers were Madelyn Shaffer (500 Free), Armin Remenyi (200 Free), Stephen Hopta (50 Back), Kailyn Swantek (50 Free), Madison Nalls (100 Free), Shahar Menahem (100 Back), Luke Smutny (100 Back), Dakota Elliott (300 Free) and Ryan Schonbachler (300 Free).

Pitt also swept the relay events, winning the men's and women's 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle relay by comfortable margins.

The Panthers return home for a two-day meet next weekend when they host the annual Western Pennsylvania Invitational on Friday and Saturday at Trees Pool. Saturday's showcase will include a ceremony to honor the Pitt swimming and diving seniors, who have made such a tremendous impact on the program during Coach Hargis' first four years.

Admission will once again be FREE to all fans for the Western Pennsylvania Invitational as Pitt welcomes local rivals Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, California (PA), Clarion and St. Francis (PA) to Trees Pool.

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