Pitt Women Move To 7-0 After Sweeping SMU and Utah

Pitt vs. Utah vs. SMU

• January 24-25, 2025
• Dallas, TX
• 25 Yards (SCY)
• Full Results

Women’s Recap

The Pitt women have moved to 7-0 on the season by defeating SMU and Utah at the tri-meet in Dallas over the weekend, which is the program’s best start since the 1985-86 season, per the school’s release.

The Panthers won six events over the two-day affair, picking up their first win of the day in the first event, as Claire Jansen, Jessica Strong, Sophie Yendell, and Anna Wiechertjes combined for a 1:37.90 in the 200 medley relay. Earlier this season, the Pitt women hit an ‘A’ cut in the 200 medley relay, securing the team’s first NCAA relay qualification since 2006.

The team kept rolling through the first half of the meet, winning four of the first seven events. Kimmy Shannon won the 1000 freestyle (10:04.42), Jansen the 100 backstroke (53.15), Sydney Gring the 200 fly (1:58.23), and Yendell the 50 freestyle (21.96). Yendell rattled her 50 freestyle school record of 21.83 for the second time this season with a 21.96—her season best stands at 21.88 from the Texas Hall of Fame Invite. It was the first of two event wins for her on the weekend; she picked up the win in the 100 fly later in the meet, swimming 52.28 and going 1-2 with Gring (52.51).

Though the final results weren’t necessarily what the host team hoped for on its Senior Day, the Mustangs still had plenty to cheer about as they picked up six event wins in the pool. Senior Rachel Anderson highlighted the action for SMU, winning two individual events and moving up to fifth on the school’s all-time top performers list in the 200 backstroke.

Anderson swam a lifetime best of 1:54.38 to move up the school’s rankings, then hit a second lifetime best to win the 200 IM in 2:01.48. It was a tight race in the 200 IM, the top three were separated by five-tenths. Anderson was third after the breaststroke leg but split a 28.19 on freestyle to pass Utah’s Ella Derby (2:01.52) and Pitt’s Abby Henderson (2:01.98).

Teia Salvino earned SMU’s first win of the day in the third event, the 200 freestyle. Like Anderson, she used a strong closing split to win, firing off a 27.23 on the final 50 yards to win in 1:47.02, eight-hundredths ahead of Avery Kudlac (1:47.10). Mira Szimczak won the 500 freestyle (4:51.22), edging out Pitt’s Kimmy Shannon by two-tenths. Maddy Parker rounded out the Mustangs’ individual event wins with a 48.32 in the 100 freestyle, then teamed with Salvino, Madeleine Herbert, and Summer Osborne to win the 400 freestyle relay (3:16.64) six-hundredths ahead of Pitt.

Utah swept the breaststroke events. Alyssa Sorensen came back on the final 50 yards to beat Izzy Krantzcke at the touch, 1:01.76 to 1:01.90. The swim was a lifetime best for Sorensen, improving on her swim from the 2024 Pac-12 Championships by a hundredth. Similarly, Rylee McColley used a strong final 50 to win the 200 breaststroke. She swam a field-best 34.06 on the last 50, out-splitting the next fastest swimmer by .62 seconds and stopping the clock at 2:15.45.

Men’s Recap

The Mustangs came away with a sweep on the men’s side of the meet, besting both Pitt and SMU. The Pitt men triumphed over Utah on the final side of the tri-meet.

The Pitt men won the 200 medley relay to kick off the meet, swimming a 1:25.30 to best SMU’s 1:25.59. The Mustangs began to pick up steam in the 1000 freestyle, as Laszlo Galicz and Jack Hoagland finished 1-2 in 9:05.14 and 9:05.63. Hoagland kept swimming and picked up an NCAA ‘B’ cut time in the mile (15:00.45). Hoagland also swam 3:46.58 in a 400 IM time trial.

Sophomore Jack Berube had an excellent day for the Mustangs, sweeping the backstroke events. He clocked 46.54 in the 100 backstroke, where he’s the school record-holder, then moved up to second on SMU’s all-time list in the 200. Berube swam a lifetime best 1:42.41 in the 200 backstroke, improving on the 1:43.04 he swam at the SMU Invitational. Finally, Berube swam a lifetime best 44.47 leading off SMU’s winning 400 freestyle relay (2:53.34).

Sage Sungail and Jack Moore also collected individual event wins for the home twam. Sungail touched first in the 50 freestyle (19.88) ahead of a 2-3 finish from Utah. Later, Moore edged out Pitt’s Max Matteazzi in the 200 IM, 1:46.48 to 1:46.81.

Matteazzi was second in the 200 IM, but he’d won the 200 breaststroke earlier in the meet. The Panther closed hard, splitting 30.08 to beat SMU’s Kristaps Mikelsons by a tenth. Matteazzi swam 1:58.01, while Mikelsons took second in 1:58.11.

The Panthers earned five individual event wins at the meet, including the 200 breast, which helped them get the better of Utah. Freshman Julian Koch collected two event wins, winning the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Koch swam 43.50 in the 100 freestyle, pulling ahead of a 2-3 SMU finish and out-touching runner-up Ward Lockhart by .26 seconds. He won the 100 butterfly by a slimmer margin, clocking 47.32 to edge out 200 fly winner Evan VanBrocklin by .14 seconds.

Marcin Goraj and Eli Hobson rounded out Pitt’s event wins; Goraj won the 200 freestyle (1:35.71), while Hobson claimed the 100 breaststroke (53.65).