Blaise Vera Earns ACC Silver, Three Panthers Reach Finals

2/25/2021 7:30:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

GREENSBORO, N.C.—University of Pittsburgh senior Blaise Vera became the program's first swimmer to win multiple ACC medals in a career on Thursday night at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

On the first full evening of men's swimming at the 2021 ACC Championships, Vera bolted to a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a final time of 19.03 seconds that broke his own Pitt record.

Vera, a native of Clinton, Miss., earned the second ACC silver medal of his outstanding Pitt career with his best time in the fastest event in college swimming. He also placed second in the 100 Free in 2019.

Having already qualified for the NCAA Championships for the third straight season, Vera still has the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard freestyle events to potentially earn more ACC medals this week – with a gold medal being the ultimate goal.

Vera also led out Pitt's 200-yard freestyle relay in 19.30 and combined with Ellis Cannon, Armin Remenyi and Serhii Ahadzhanian to place eighth with a time of 1:18.06.

Two underclassmen Panthers advanced to finals in the 500-yard freestyle, with freshman Warren Briggs placing 15th in 4:20.63 and sophomore Wojciech Dutkowiak taking 21st in 4:21.73.

Several Pitt men's swimmers were in action in each of Thursday's individual prelims as well.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Ryan Schobachler (44th, 4:28.79) and Stephen Hopta (52nd, 4:33.00) represented the Panthers.

In the 200-yard individual medley, newcomers Flynn Crisci (30th, 1:47.71), Owen McLaughlin (33rd, 1:48.81) and Cameron Dafoe (34th, 1:48.86) nearly scored while Jerry Chen (38th, 1:49.41) and Javier Zorzano (42nd, 1:50.21) also swam well.

In the 50-yard freestyle sprint, Armin Remenyi (37th, 20.25), Ellis Cannon (38th, 20.32), Szymon Pytlarcyzk (40th, 20.35), Serhii Ahadzhanian (43rd, 20.45), Dominic Toledo (46th, 20.51) and Cooper van der Laan (67th, 23.92) were all in action.

The Greensboro Aquatic Center will host another full day of men's swimming action on Friday, with prelims starting at 10 a.m. followed by 6 p.m. finals in five individual events and a relay.

The entire 2021 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, including prelims and finals, will be broadcast via ACC Network Extra and the WatchESPN app.

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