Amy Read, Senior Swimmers Lead Pitt on Saturday at ACC Championships

Wednesday, February 19

Greensboro, NC

Pitt

ACC Women's Championships

Amy Read, Senior Swimmers Lead Pitt on Saturday at ACC Championships

2/22/2020 9:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Results

GREENSBORO, N.C.—Sophomore diver Amy Read became the first Pitt woman to advance to the championship final on platform at the ACC Championships, and senior swimmers Madelyn Shaffer and Valerie Daigneault scored for the third consecutive day to conclude Pitt's diving and women's swimming efforts this week at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Read earned a sixth-place finish in the platform final with a points total of 223.60. The Leeds, England, native scored in all three diving events at the ACC Championships, adding 46 points for the Panthers.

Shaffer was Pitt's top-placing swimmer on Saturday, posting her second career top-10 finish at ACCs. The senior touched the wall in 10th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:57.81.

With her 12-point effort thanks to a 15th-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:56.28, Daigneault finished her Pitt career with 103 team points scored at the ACC Championships, making her the fourth Pitt women's swimmer to top the 100-point plateau at the ACC conference meet.

"I'm very proud of the team and these seniors," Pitt head coach John Hargis said. "This team showed incredible heart throughout this entire meet. Every time they faced adversity, they battled back. And the seniors led the way with their resiliency, which was highlighted by an incredible final swim in the relay by Maddie and Val. That toughness has been the identity of this team all season, and I'm very proud."

The Panthers finished the meet by placing ninth in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:18.16, which featured an incredible split by Daigneault of 48.65 that is the best on record in program history.

Joining Read in scoring huge diving points for the Panthers, senior Krista Jones finished her final ACC Championships with her best performance at the meet, placing ninth with a platform total of 208.40. Sophomore Serena Buchwald also posted her best ACC finish, taking 14th with a score of 199.40.

Pitt's trio of women's platform divers combined to score 57 points for the Panthers on Saturday, which pleased third-year diving coach Katie Hazelton.

"Today was a great day for our program," Hazelton said. "We showed the depth that we're building, with several divers contending for finals. And to watch Amy compete in the final and contend for a medal was such an amazing moment. I don't think there's ever been a more exciting time to be with the Pitt swimming and diving program. We're young, talented and the future is very bright."

Also scoring for the Panthers on Saturday, sophomore Dakota Elliott – normally a breaststroker who was competing in the freestyle and butterfly events this week due to a hip injury – fought through that adversity to score at ACCs for the second straight year. She placed 18th in the 200-yard butterfly thanks to a huge top time of 1:58.95 in the evening session.

Junior Shahar Menahem took 24th in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:00.36 and senior Sarah Giamber also finished 24th in the 1,650-yard freestyle mile to add another point in her final conference meet.

The Pitt women's swimming & diving program finished the 2020 ACC Championships with 359 points – good enough for 10th place in the conference and an improvement on last year's points total.

Saturday morning's swimming action saw several other Panthers race at the ACC Championships.

Four more Pitt athletes produced top-40 finishes in the 200-yard backstroke – Camryn Forbes (26th, 1:59.42), Kathleen Lynch (32nd, 2:02.40), Barb Schmele (33rd, 2:02.73) and Lauren Kelly (39th, 2:07.07).

In the 100-yard freestyle, Madison Nalls swam an impressive top time of 50.17 to place 28th, while Kate Fuhrmann also posted a personal-best mark of 50.61 to finish 35th. Kailyn Swantek (44th, 51.54), Alyssa Conley (48th, 52.44) and Emma Wilson (57th, 54.28) also finished their meets in the event.

Freshman Tatum Detwiler (36th, 2:02.26) was the lone Pitt athlete to compete in the 200-yard breaststroke and finished with a top time, while the 200-yard butterfly prelims saw three Panthers emerge with top-40 finishes: Daisy Anderson (29th, 2:01.04), Jacqueline Hendrix (39th, 2:04.33) and Kayla Graham (40th, 2:05.42).

The Pitt men's swimmers will travel to Greensboro on Monday ahead of the second week of action at the 2020 ACC Championships. The Panthers scored 24 points in men's diving, with freshman Dylan Reed tallying 23 points to tie the record for ACC points by a Pitt men's freshman diver.

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