Panthers Impress in Day One Versus Notre Dame, Cleveland State

SOUTH BEND— The University of Pittsburgh swimming and diving teams concluded the first day of action in a tri-meet against Notre Dame and Cleveland State at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The Panthers tallied two personal bests, 13 podium finishes and a sweep of the men's 1M diving event – securing the top four placements. The team ended the day in second place among the three schools.

Sophomore Marcin Goraj had an impressive night for the men winning the 200 Back (1:46.60) and finishing second in the 100 Free with a new personal best of 45.46. Goraj also assisted the 200 Free Relay (1:21.89) and 400 Medley Relay (3:15.84) in second and third place finishes respectively.

Junior Daisy Anderson secured the other first-place finish of the night in the 400 IM (4:20.29). Additionally, junior Adam Mahler also earned a new personal best with a time of 49.06 and a second-place finish shared with senior Serhii Ahadzhanian.

"We had a lot of really good swims today," head coach John Hargis said. We had a couple of close swims, especially on the men's side that if we can get our hand to the wall, it's a completely different meet. All in all, I think our kids are swimming very well where we are in our training. We are battling a lot of sickness and injuries right now, so I think where we are in the season, our kids are competing very well. The last fall that we were able to compete was 2019 and we are way ahead of where we were then. Hopefully tomorrow we can come in and continue to race well and walk out with some more wins"

The men's diving team dominated the 1M for the Panthers, concluding the event in the top four spots. Junior Dylan Reed led the men, earning the first-place victory as well as another NCAA Zone Cut with 318.55 points. Reed was followed by teammates freshman Cameron Cash (281.65), sophomore Jackson Salisbury (265.75), and senior Josh Parquet (263.45). For the women, senior Amy Read concluded the 3M in third place with 291.10, earning her fourth Zone Cut of the season.

"We had solid results today, especially from the men," head diving coach Katie Kasprzak said. "We saw great dives from all divers and each meet we are seeing their confidence increase. As always, we learned a few lessons today and we are looking to being stronger tomorrow."

The second and final day of the Notre Dame / Cleveland State tri-meet will kick off tomorrow, Saturday Oct. 16 at 11 a.m. Events will include the 200 Medley Relay, 200 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 200 Butterfly, 100 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke, 1000 Free, Women's 1M Diving, Men's 3M Diving, and the 400 Freestyle Relay.