Panthers Triumph in 27 Events in Final Home Meet of Season

Friday, January 31

Pittsburgh, PA

DIVE: 1 PM, SWIM: 5 PM (LCM)

Pitt

Ohio State

Panthers Triumph in 27 Events in Final Home Meet of Season

1/31/2020 8:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Results

PITTSBURGH—In a unique meet on Friday night at Trees Pool, the University of Pittsburgh swimming & diving program posted 27 event victories while hosting the Ohio State Buckeyes in the final home competition of the 2019-20 campaign for the Panthers.

With both long-course meters and short-course yards swimming events on the schedule, the Panthers finished the night with 16 individual wins in LCM swimming and 10 more victories in SCY heats, along with one diving win.

No team score was recorded in the unique meet, which allowed the swimmers to compete in the Olympic-style LCM events as well as the traditional collegiate SCY racing.

"We were able to do some different things tonight, and it resulted in a fun meet for the athletes," Pitt head coach John Hargis said afterwards. "This team is in a great place right now heading into these upcoming ACC Championships. I'm really happy with where our preparation is at. Madelyn Shaffer swam really well tonight, and Jerry Chen went all top times. Those are just a few examples out of this great group of athletes who are ready to compete at their peak ability in Greensboro in February."

The day began with diving action at Trees Pool that saw Pitt's divers continue to show good form with the all-important 2020 ACC Championships just weeks away.

Cortnee Williams placed second on 3-meter springboard with 288.15 points, and Amy Read led the way on 1-meter springboard with a third-place finish at 281.40 points.

But Pitt diving coach Katie Hazelton was pleased with all of her athletes after a meet that was scored on a difficulty level aimed at replicating what the team will see at the ACC and NCAA postseason meets.

"The team dove really well today," Hazelton said. "Competing on a similar scoring standard to what the ACC Championships will have, I saw diving with consistency and confidence. Ohio State has some outstanding divers that will contend in finals at the Big Ten and NCAA Championships, and it was impressive how we performed against that level of competition. Cortnee Williams continues to especially impress with her recent improvements, and Josh Parquet for the men really showed how far he has come in terms of execution and belief of what he is capable of."

Krista Jones paced a trio of Panthers who competed on platform to hone their skills in that event for the ACC Championships, scoring 227.70 on her five dives.

Here are all of the Pitt event winners from the evening's swimming action:

Serhii Ahadzhanian – 100-yard Fly (48.22)
Ellis Cannon – 50-yard Free (20.48)
Valerie Daigneault – 200-meter Back (2:17.13), 100-yard Free (50.93)
Dakota Elliott – 200-yard Free (1:50.38)
Judd Fishman – 200-meter Back (2:08.41), 200-yard Back (1:49.92)
Kate Fuhrmann – 200-meter Breast (2:46.69)
Samy Helmbacher – 200-meter Free (1:56.44)
Alec Hoch – 100-yard Free (46.07)
Kathleen Lynch – 100-meter Back (1:04.69)
Shahar Menahem – 200-meter IM (2:21.93), 200-meter Free (2:06.78), 200-yard IM (2:04.30)
Szymon Pytlarczyk – 50-meter Free (23.78)
Armin Remenyi – 100-meter Fly (54.77)
Ryan Schonbachler – 400-meter Free (4:06.35)
Madelyn Shaffer – 200-meter Fly (2:17.56), 100-yard Fly (54.65)
Luke Smutny – 100-meter Back (59.56)
Cooper van der Laan – 200-meter Breast (2:20.31), 100-meter Breast (1:03.80), 100-yard Breast (54.53)
Eben Vorster – 200-meter IM (2:07.03), 200-meter Fly (2:01.52), 200-yard Fly (1:46.12)

The Panthers will now fully turn their attention to February's ACC Championships in Greensboro, N.C.

The women's swimming and all diving events will be held from Feb. 19-22, while the men's swimming competition will run from Feb. 26-29 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

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