4 School Record Swims Highlight Senior Day for Pitt Panthers

Western PA. Invite

• January 25th-26th, 2019
• Trees Pool, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Results

Final Men’s Team Scores:

• Pitt 233, Carnegie Mellon 65
• Pitt 243, Clarion 48
• Carnegie Mellon 228, Clarion 62

Final Women’s Team Scores

• Pitt 247, Carnegie Mellon 52
• Pitt 248, California (PA) 30
• Pitt 243, Clarion 54
• Pitt 245.5, Duquesne 45.5
• Pitt 249, St. Francis (PA) 37
• Clarion 188, California (PA) 70
• Duquesne 197, California (PA) 57
• St. Francis (PA) 154, California (PA) 68
• Carnegie Mellon 190, Clarion 107
• Duquesne 176, Carnegie Mellon 113
• Carnegie Mellon 194, St. Francis (PA) 92
• Duquesne 182, Clarion 101
• St. Francis (PA) 152, Clarion 121
• Carnegie Mellon 226, California (PA) 51
• Duquesne 195, St. Francis (PA) 75

The Pitt Panthers dominated their final home meet of the 2018-2019 season, predictably sweeping their Western Pennsylvania opponents (mostly D2 and D3 teams) on senior day.

The wins were expected, but the meet came with an unexpected outburst of speed from Pitt, with 4 school record swims falling on Saturday.

Sophomore Blaise Vera started the day off with a 19.62 in the 50 free, which broke his own record of 19.66 – set at November’s Ohio State Invite. He then bookended the meet with another record, finishing the day with a 19.55 leadoff on Pitt’s 200 free relay. That swim spurred the team to a 1:19.52 – their season-best by half-a-second and another school record. It broke the program’s oldest relay record, having stood since 2006.

The new relay included Vera (19.55), Ellis Cannon (19.78), Armin Remenyi (20.00), and Alec Hoch (20.19). Only Vera and Hoch were on the mid-season group at the Ohio State Invite. All 4 of those swimmers are just sophomores, to boot.

Vera still probably needs to drop a few tenths to earn an NCAA invite (it took 19.36 for an invite last year), but regardless of where his season finishes, John Hargis and the Pitt coaching staff will have a headliner to use in their recruiting pitch in Vera: coming into this season, his lifetime best was a 20.04 in the 50 free. He’s now been faster than that 7 times this season already.

The 3rd event to see a record come crashing down for Pitt was the 200 fly, where junior Madelyn Shaffer swam a 1:58.14. That broke her own school record of 1:58.42 set at the 2017 Ohio State Invite.

“With how hard we’re currently training, it’s surprising to be setting school records at this time of year,” Pitt head coach John Hargis said after the meet. “But it’s a credit to the student-athletes and just how talented and hard-working they are. With so many fans and alumni here today, it was great to see Blaise, Maddie and the men’s 200 free relay make Pitt swimming history. It’s also a tremendously exciting sign of what’s to come for our team at the ACC Championships next month. We have so much more to offer in so many events.”