Pittsburgh Press Release
PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh swimming & diving teams produced dominant performances at the Western Pennsylvania Invitational in the swimming events as the Panthers combined to win all but one race at Trees Pool on Saturday.
In their final meet before next month’s ACC Championships, the Panthers emerged victorious against competition from California (PA), Carnegie Mellon, Clarion, Duquesne and St. Francis (PA) in every single event except for the women’s 200 IM. Combined with Pitt’s four wins in diving on Friday, the team finished with victories in 31 of the 32 events at the annual Western PA Invite.
“It was a good meet on an emotional day for our group of seniors,” Pitt head coach John Hargis after the Panthers honored the team’s 14 seniors during their final home meet at Trees Pool. “We wanted to make sure it was a special day for the seniors. At the same time, we wanted to get some quality racing in, and I think we certainly accomplished that.”
The extent of Pitt’s dominance was proven in the fact that not only did the Panthers get to the wall first in all but one of Saturday’s races, but the home team also took second and/or third place in numerous races. The Panthers completed a 1-2-3 trifecta in 11 of Saturday’s swimming events.
Pitt shared its wealth in winning. An incredible 19 different Panthers won at least won race as many of the Pitt swimmers competed in events outside of their usual realm. Even reigning NCAA 3-meter diving champion Dominic Giordano got in the action on Senior Day, swimming an impressive split of 22.36 seconds for one of Pitt’s 200 free relay teams at the end of the meet.
Senior Gabe Larson had a great final meet at Trees Pool, winning the 100 back (51.01), 50 free (20.88) and 200 IM (1:49.60) on the men’s side. Senior Henrique Machado also won two races: the 100 free (44.62) and 100 fly (49.45). On the women’s side, Emily Murphy took two victories as well, winning the 100 back (56.75) and 100 fly (57.05).
