Courtesy: Pittsburgh Athletics
PITTSBURGH—Another chapter in the storied history of the Backyard Brawl rivalry will be written on Saturday in Morgantown when the University of Pittsburgh swimming & diving program meets the West Virginia Mountaineers in the first event of the new decade for both teams.
The Backyard Brawl swimming & diving dual meet, which has become an early January tradition in recent years, is slated to begin at 11 a.m. at WVU’s new Aquatic Center at Mylan Park – meaning that the matchup between the Panthers and Mountaineers will be the first head-to-head action at the pool.
Pitt’s fourth-year head coach John Hargis owns a 5-1 overall record (3-0 women’s, 2-1 men’s) against the Mountaineers, and has the Panthers aiming for a repeat sweep of WVU after last year’s dominating victories at Trees Pool.
“We’re really excited for another opportunity to compete,” Hargis said. “It’s been over a month, so we’re looking forward to challenging ourselves against West Virginia in what will be the first dual meet at their new pool. Coach Vic Riggs does a fantastic job with that program, and he’ll have that team ready, for sure. We need to match their intensity. We always look forward to the Backyard Brawl, and it should be a great way to begin 2020.”
The Panthers’ first meet of the new decade follows a December that saw the team travel to San Juan for a week in Puerto Rico for a winter training trip that primed Pitt’s athletes for the 2020 Olympic year.
Leading the visitors into Morgantown for Saturday’s showdown will be Olympic hopefuls Samy Helmbacher, Armin Remenyi, Cooper van der Laan, Blaise Vera and Eben Vorster on the men’s side, while veteran swimmers Valerie Daigneault and Madelyn Shaffer and divers Krista Jones and Amy Read seek to score maximum points for the Panthers in the women’s events.
Saturday marks the 26th consecutive season that Pitt and West Virginia have met in swimming & diving.
Pitt, West Virginia Set for First Dual Meet at WVU Aquatic CenterDuring that time, Pitt has dominated the Backyard Brawl, leading the women’s series 21-4 and the men’s matchups 20-5 over the past quarter century of continuous dual meets.
