Pitt has announced on Instagram that four swimmers and one diver will be returning to use their COVID-19 fifth year this upcoming season.
Highlighting the men’s side is diver Dylan Reed. Reed was the team’s highest scorer at ACCs this past season as he was third on the 3 meter, 10th on platform, and 12th on the 1 meter. He scored 58.5 individual points. He went on to compete at NCAAs where. hefinished 16th on 1 meter and 26th on platform. Pitt scored a total of four points at NCAAs.
Jerry Chen scored 35 individual points at ACCs this past season and will return for a fifth year. He was eigith in the 200 breast and 14th in the 100 breast. The return of Chen is huge as the team lost both of their top breaststroke. Cooper Van Der Laan has graduated and Flynn Crisci is transferring to Tennessee to use his COVID-19 fifth year.
Adam Mahler returns after scoring 23 individual points at 2023 ACCs. He was seventh in the 200 fly and 26th in the 100 fly. Mahler’s return is huge as he was the team’s fastest 200 butterflier this past season by over seven seconds.
Dominic Toledo scored 21 individual points at ACCs. He was 15th in the 100 free and 21st in the 50 free. He was used on four of the teams relays at ACCs as well as three of their relays at NCAAs. Most notably, he anchored their 400 medley relay that finished 16th, scoring two points for the team.
The Pitt men finished tied-sixth at ACCs this past season with 660.5 points. The team was expected to have huge losses as they were only projected to return 146 individual points. That was less than the tied-sixth, eighth, ninth, and 10th place teams at ACCs. With the return of the four men, that individual points number jumps to 283.5. Florida State (t-6th this past season) and Georgia Tech (9th this past season) are expected to still return more.
Maddie London will return for a fifth year on the women’s side. London swam in prelims of the 100 breast, 200 breast, and 50 free at ACCs this past season. The Pitt women were 11th this past season at ACCs but return more points than 10th place Miami (FL) for this upcoming season.
Pitt will enter their second season under new head coach Chase Kreitler who was hired in April 2022. In his first season, the men’s 400 medley relay team finished 16th at NCAAs to become the program’s first relay to score since 2002. Overall, Pitt brought 12 men to NCAAs, the school’s largest squad ever.
The Return Of Chen