Courtesy: Pitt Athletics
PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh swimming & diving program will honor its 2022 senior class this weekend as the Panthers host the annual Western Pennsylvania Invitational at Trees Pool. Pitt welcomes five local rivals from the region to the meet, with Duquesne, California (PA), Carnegie Mellon, Lock Haven, and St. Francis all expected to compete over the two days in the pool.
Both days of competition will be available for streaming on ACCNX. Live results will also be available on the MeetMobile app. Admission is free for both days of the Western PA Invite at Trees Pool.
Action begins on Friday, Jan. 28., with platform diving at 11 a.m., followed by 3M diving at 1 p.m., and swimming at 4 p.m. to conclude day one. Competition will continue into Saturday, Jan. 29 leading off with 1M diving at 9 a.m. and swimming at 11 a.m. Senior Day ceremonies will be held in between Saturday’s events for Pitt’s 13 seniors.
Pitt has historically dominated this meet, winning every matchup over the past few years in what is a great opportunity for the program to fine-tune their craft as conference championship season closes in.
Four seniors will compete in diving events for the Panthers – Wesley Ahart, Serena Buchwald, Josh Parquet, and Amy Read. Swimming will also showcase another nine senior Pitt athletes – Serhii Ahadzhanian, Alyssa Conley, Dakota Elliott, Kayla Graham, Stephen Hopta, Madison Nalls, Quinton Pierce, Jilian Schulte, and Jacqueline Tinneny.
This senior class has made an incredible impact on the program while competing under head coach John Hargis and head diving coach, Katie Kasprzak, especially the three record holders: Graham, Hopta, and Read.
Hopefully this year will be different. In the past, this tune up meet, with no competition at all produced nothing. Pitt needs competition, Pitt needs to race fast swimmers. When they get to ACC’s and see the competition, they meet is over. Coach Hargis needs to get these swimmers out of their comfort zone and into the real world of fast Division One Swimming.
Pitt has a history of being faster at this meet and their Christmas invite than they are at ACCs and NCAAs
I agree w Cwick, I think they should get out and race more higher profile teams(I wonder why they don’t) but I don’t think that has anything to do with Pitt “flopping” at ACCs because they don’t. They still get their team to improve and swim faster at ACCs than at any other meet in the season. You have crazy high expectations for Pitt, which isn’t a bad thing, and Pitt could do better recruiting-wise but just looking at the times and facts, they aren’t failing like you say they do.
Years ago, Coach Bradshaw used to schedule UNC, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Ohio State and many other D1 teams. Why can’t they schedule them???
So having two swimmers make A final at ncaas and have multiple acc finalists means they don’t do good? Damn I need to see how you coach then
Also grad transfer Sarah Helen Shepherd’s last regular season meet after a really impressive career at Davidson 👀