Pitt
Penn State (Swimming)
Panthers Power Past Penn State in Historical Dual Meet Performance
10/25/2025 2:41:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Swimming and Diving Program delivered a dominant performance over Penn State this weekend at Trees Pool, sweeping the Nittany Lions in the two-day dual meet. The Panthers' women's squad defeated Penn State 218–77 in their home pool for the first time since the 1988-89 season, while the men's team prevailed 182.5–115.
Pitt won 21 events over the course of the meet, highlighted by three program records and three pool records. With the victory, the Pitt women claimed their third straight win over Penn State — a first in program history. With the win, both teams advance to 3-0 on the season and head coach Chase Kreitler stands 3-1 against the Nittany Lions.
The Panthers opened the meet with authority, sweeping both 200-yard medley relays. The women's A-team of Sydney Gring, Jessica Strong, Avery Hafele and Mary Clarke clocked a time of 1:39.18 to secure the win, while the men's quartet of Mason Leach, Eli Hobson, Alan Vergine and Donat Fabian followed suit in 1:26.15.
Avery Kudlac led the women's team with three victories, winning the 200 freestyle (1:46.42), 50 freestyle (22.40) and 100 freestyle (49.13). Claire Jansen swept the backstroke events with times of 51.92 in the 100 and 1:55.68 in the 200. Angelina Messina also notched two wins, capturing the 100 breaststroke (1:01.96), a lifetime best, and the 200 breaststroke (2:14.80).
Kimmy Shannon added a pair of individual victories in the 500 freestyle (4:48.46) and 200 individual medley (1:59.28). Gring swept the butterfly events with wins in the 200 (1:56.07) and 100 (51.62), setting a program record in the 200 fly.
On the men's side, Julian Koch continued his strong start to the season with three victories; the 50 freestyle (19.20), 100 freestyle (41.85) and 100 butterfly (46.66). He also anchored Pitt's winning 400 freestyle relay (2:55.29) alongside James Allison, Georg Filippov and Fabian.
Vergine added three wins of his own, taking the 200 individual medley (1:46.80), contributing to the winning medley relay and setting both a program and pool record in the 200 butterfly (1:42.49).
The Panthers closed the meet with another milestone, as the women's 400 freestyle relay of Kudlac, Gring, Jansen and Clarke set a new pool record with a time of 3:14.91. Jansen's 50-yard backstroke split of 23.93 also established a new program record to lead off the relay.
Up Next
Pitt returns to action on Friday, Nov. 7, in Ann Arbor, facing Michigan and Oakland in a tri-meet.
Players Mentioned
