Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
The University of Pittsburgh swim & dive team has been on a steady rise over the last three and a half years under the tutelage of head coach Chase Kreitler, and the Panthers’ progression was on full display last week at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite.
Pitt swimmers took down a total of nine program records throughout the four-day meet, including senior Claire Jansen resetting all three in the women’s backstroke events.
On the opening day of the meet, Jansen led off the Panther women’s 200 medley relay in 23.89, lowering her own school record of 24.25 set at the 2025 ACCs.
Jansen then followed up by resetting the Pitt record in the women’s 100 back, clocking 51.03 to inch past her previous mark of 51.17, set at the 2025 NCAAs, and then her best performance of the meet came on the final day of racing in the 200 back.
Jansen annihilated her school record by nearly three seconds, clocking 1:50.47 to erase her old record of 1:53.28, also set at the 2025 NCAAs. The swim ranks Jansen 6th in the NCAA this season, and notably, would’ve been fast enough to make the ‘A’ final at the 2025 NCAAs (1:50.55 was 8th in prelims), where she placed 25th.
At the end of the meet in the 400 free relay, Jansen factored into another school record.
First, Avery Kudlac led off in a new Pitt record of 48.28 in the 100 free, and she was followed by Sydney Gring (48.24), Mary Clarke (48.71) and Jansen (47.65) as they combined for a time of 3:12.88.
That took down the previous Pitt record of 3:13.83, set by three of the same four swimmers at the 2025 NCAAs (Clarke being the lone newcomer), while Kudlac’s swim lowered her previous Panther mark of 48.43 from last season’s ACCs.
Jansen also set personal best times in the 50 free (22.51) and 200 free (1:47.12) at the meet, Kudlac and Gring set identical PBs in the 50 free (22.35), and Clarke set new personal marks in the 100 free (48.61), 200 free (1:46.73) and 100 back (52.59).
The other school record falling on the women’s side came in the 400 IM, where sophomore Kimmy Shannon‘s time of 4:07.80 took down the 4:08.47 record she set at the 2025 ACCs.
On the men’s side, sophomore Julian Koch fired off a pair of program records on relay lead-offs, first posting a time of 1:33.21 opening up the 800 free relay to knock off Marcin Goraj‘s 200 free school record of 1:33.47 from last season. Koch’s previous best stood at 1:34.68, set last season at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite.
Closing out the meet in the 400 free relay, Koch led off the Pitt men in 41.15, breaking his own school record of 41.85 set in October. Coming into this season, the Pitt record stood at 42.04 from Blaise Vera in 2019.
Individually, Koch was the runner-up in the 50 free (19.21) and placed 5th in the 100 fly (45.53) at the meet, both just shy of his lifetime bests set earlier this season of 19.20 and 45.43, respectively. In both races, he’s within striking distance of Vera’s school records of 19.03 and 45.29, both set in 2021.
In the men’s 200 fly, Italian freshman Alan Vergine re-lowered his program record, putting up a time of 1:42.15 to take down his month-old mark of 1:42.49 set during Pitt’s dual against Penn State. Coming into the campaign, the school record stood at 1:42.54, set by Adam Mahler in 2023.
Last season, the Pitt men and women both scored at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2017, and coming off their performances in November, Kreitler’s Panthers appear to be well on their way to doing so again in 2026.
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Thrilled to have my granddaughter on his team. Hail-2-Chase!
Chase is one heck of a great Coach. Congrats of this recognition.