Pitt Sweeps the Backyard Brawl

Thursday, January 14

Pittsburgh, Pa.

11 AM

Pitt

West Virginia (Women's Swimming Only)

Warren Briggs breaks the school record in the 1,000 Free

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

Associate head coach Dr. Marc Christian (center) and assistant coaches Trevor Carroll (left) and Kristen Murslack (right)

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

1/14/2021 5:49:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Men's Results Women Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

PITTSBURGH – University of Pittsburgh swimming and diving swept local rival West Virginia on Thursday at Trees Pool. The men cruised to a 193-107 victory while the women captured a strong 173-127 win over the Mountaineers.

In the 27th consecutive season that Pitt and West Virginia have met in swimming & diving, Pitt now owns a 23-4 advantage with a current nine-meet winning streak during the span on the women's side and 22-5 edge for the men. Pitt coach John Hargis has an 8-2 overall record (5-0 women's, 3-2 men's) against West Virginia.

Women's Recap

The women started off the day with a first-place finish in the 200 yard medley relay, as Kathleen Lynch, Tatum Detwiler, Sophie Yendell and Emma Wilson turned in a time of 1:41.71. The Panthers also garnered first-place in the 400 yard Free relay with a time of 3:24.07 from Shahar Menahem, Madison Nalls, Katie Fuhrmann and Yendell.

In their collegiate debuts, Abby Grottle and Genna Joyce both won multiple events. Grottle led the way in the 500 Free (4:56.29) and 1,000 Free (9:57.18, a personal record). Joyce turned in a time of 2:17.19 for first in the 200 Breast. Both topped last year's best times by a Panther in the respective events.

Daisy Anderson also won in multiple events. She earned first-place in the 400 IM (4:17.88) and had a personal-best time of 2:00.31 in the 200 Fly.

The Panthers swept the 100 Breast, as Tatum Detwiler led the way with a personal-record of 1:02.51 followed by Kate Fuhrmann (1:03.83) and Anneliese Hohm (1:04.72).

Nalls took the 100 Free with a time of 51.31.

"The women battled today," said Hargis. "We have had so many injuries, sicknesses, and you stick that with COVID in terms of the fall season in general into the Christmas time, training on both sides has been up and down. The way the girls battled today was true heart, and you can just tell they truly wanted it. Abby [Grottle] had a heck of a meet and that was fun to watch. Madison [Nalls] was tough today as she hurt herself earlier in the week and we didn't know if she was going to be swimming today. For her to have the meet she had with the injuries she's dealt with was truly a gutty performance."

Men's Recap

The men also started off their meet with a first-place finish in the 200 yard medley relay, as Stephen Hopta, Cooper Van Der Laan, Marcin Goraj and Blaise Vera recorded a time of 1:26.93. In the 400 Free relay, Armin Remenyi, Serhii Ahadzhanian, Vera and Goraj teamed up to take first place with 2:57.98.

Warren Briggs couldn't have had a better collegiate debut as he broke the men's oldest school record in the 1,000 Free. Briggs won the event with a time of 9:08.74, topping Eric Limkemann's previous school-best time of 9:09.30 set on Feb. 21, 2002 in the BIG EAST Championships. Briggs later on recorded another first-place finish in the 500 Free (4:26.28), better than any time in the event from last season by a Pitt swimmer.

?? SCHOOL RECORD ??

FRESHMAN Warren Briggs breaks the 1,000 yard free school record with a time of 9:08.74 ??

The time set by Eric Limkemann in 2002 (9:09.30) was the oldest school record on the books ?#H2P | #H2oP pic.twitter.com/v68qzLwPYw
— Pitt Swim & Dive (@Pitt_SWIM_DIVE) January 14, 2021

Briggs wasn't the only Panther to set a new school record, as Cooper van der Laan broke his own record (52.71) and set a new Trees Pool record in the 100 Breast with 52.41 to earn first place in the event. Van der Laan also garnered first in the 200 Breast.

?? ANOTHER ONE ??

This time it's a SCHOOL & POOL record from junior Cooper Van Der Laan in the 100 yard breast ??

His time of 52:41 breaks the old 100 breast record by .30 seconds set by, guess who, Van Der Laan ?? #H2P | #H2oP pic.twitter.com/OFGzkziv6b
— Pitt Swim & Dive (@Pitt_SWIM_DIVE) January 14, 2021

Marcin Goraj and Javier Zorzano joined the other Panthers to win multiple events in his first-ever collegiate meet. Goraj took the top spot in the 100 Back (47.93) and 200 Back (1:45.39), while Zorzano captured first-place in the 400 IM with 3:56.27

Blaise Vera continued his dominance in the Backyard Brawl, winning the 50 Free (19.80) and the 100 Free (43.67) for the third-straight year against West Virginia.

"The men had a bad taste in their mouth from last year," said Hargis. "Training for them has been a little steadier, but all in all they had a bad taste in their mouth and been wanting this one for a long time. Right from the get go, that medley relay was the fastest medley relay I have ever seen in one of my Pitt teams in a dual meet, and to go one and two in the front end like that was fun to watch. I think that set the tone, and Warren [Briggs] breaking the school record in the next event in the 1,000 free spring-boarded the guys from that point. Cooper [Van Der Laan] going 52 and 1:55 in the breaststrokes for a school record in the 100 breast probably qualifies him for NCAA's, and to be able to do that in a dual meet format is phenomenal. We are in a good place right now and we are excited to race Army in a couple of weeks."

Up Next

Pitt is back in action with another home meet against Army on Saturday, Jan. 30 that starts at 11 a.m.

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