University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Swimming & Diving Starts 2014-15 Season Against Duke
10/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
| Pitt (0-0, 0-0 ACC) vs. Duke (0-0, 0-0 ACC) | | ||
| Date | Saturday, October 11 at 11:00 a.m. (ET) | ||
| Location | Trees Pool / Pittsburgh, Pa. | ||
| Television | N/A | ||
| Radio | N/A | ||
| Online | Live Stream on Panthers All-Access | ||
| Game Notes / Stats | 2013-14 Top Times | School Records | ||
| Promotions | Pink The Pool | ||
| Social Media | @PittSwimAndDive - Twitter / Instagram / Facebook | ||
PITTSBURGH – Jumping right into conference action, the University of Pittsburgh swimming and diving team will host Duke in the season opener for both clubs on Saturday, Oct. 11. Diving begins at 11 a.m. with swimming set to start at noon.
PINK THE POOL
Trees Pool turns pink for the annual ‘Pink the Pool’ on Saturday. The event will help raise money and awareness for breast cancer. A donation bin will be placed inside the venue for fans and supporters to help the cause, with all profits going to the Pittsburgh chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
In sticking with the “pink” theme, all Pitt swimmers will be wearing specially-made pink caps for the meet, while coaches will don pink polos. Fans are encouraged to join in and wear pink to show their support in the first against breast cancer.
LAST TIME OUT
Pitt swimming & diving unofficially kicked off the 2014-15 season with the annual Blue-Gold Intrasquad. For the second straight year, both the Blue women and Gold men won the competition. The men’s results came down to the final race with the Gold team taking first in the 400-m relay to finish with a 140-137 win. The Blue women coasted to a 173-124 triumph.
WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING, MATEVISH HONORED BY ACC
Earlier this week, the Atlantic Coast Conference handed out its Top 6 for Service Award, which is presented annual to student-athletes and teams from each ACC institution who demonstrate dedication to community service and outreach programs.
This year, graduated senior Lauren Matevish along with the entire team were recognized. The women’s swimming and diving team not only had the highest overall team grade point average, but also served the highest number of individual and team hours in the community of any athletic team on campus.
RECORDS FALL AT BLUE-GOLD INTRASQUAD
A total of 10 meet records were broken at this year’s annual scrimmage. A trio of underclassmen, sophomores Zach Lierley and Kinga Cichowska, and freshman Amanda Richey were all responsible for two individual records each.
Lierley set new standards in the 200-yd backstroke (1:49.75) and 200-yd IM (1:53.08). Cichowska owned the 100- and 200-yd breaststrokes with times of 1:03.37 and 2:16.03, respectively.
In her first collegiate race, Richey not only set a meet record in the 1,000-m freestyle, but also a freshman record with a time of 9:58.78, eclipsing the former freshman time of 10:01.36. She later set the meet record for the 500-yd freestyle as well.
Junior Martin Vogel was the only other individual to set a meet record, posting a time of 1:49.83 in the 200-yd butterfly.
NOSBISCH AND LIERLEY SET EYES ON OLYMPICS
Qualifying times for the 2016 Olympic Trials were recently released, and two Pitt swimmers already made the cut with their performances at the 2014 Phillips 66 National Championships, held back in August.
Senior Luke Nosbisch, who previously swam at the 2012 Olympic Trials, qualified in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:15.89 – a full 2.5 seconds faster than the cut time. Following in the footsteps of his older brother Jon, who is a senior at Pitt this year and qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials, Zach Lierley will participate at the next Olympic Trials in two events. In his best event, the 400 IM, Lierley's time of 4:24.57 at Senior Nationals was nearly three seconds faster than the qualifying time. Lierley also qualified in the 200-meter backstroke. His time of 2:03.14 was 0.65 faster than the qualifying standard.
THREE-PEAT: WOMEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING WIN ‘BATTLE OF THE PANTHERS’
For the third year and counting, the Pitt swimming and diving team was crowned ‘Battle of the Panthers’ champions. The award is designed to help promote student-athlete development through participating in various life skills topics throughout the year and is determined by a number of categories, including community service, academic success, athletic excellence and leadership development.
MEN TO WATCH
The men’s team returns six individual school record holders and another three that made their mark on relay teams.
Two of the six are the aforementioned Nosbisch and Zach Lierley, both of whom own records in the 200-yd breast and 400 IM, respectively.
Virtually unstoppable in the 100-yd fly, senior Kourosh Ahani will be back once again looking to defend his school record. Junior Martin Vogel, the record holder in the longer 200-yd fly, will also be in contention in the event this year.
Junior captain Mack Rice is the owner of the top time in the 200 IM at Pitt. The freestyle events will be held down by juniors Sean Heiden, David Sweeney and Matthew Tankle, and sophomore Scott Simmer. Heiden and Sweeney will race in the sprints, Tankle in the middle-distance and Simmer in the longest distances.
The duo of Harris Bergman and Tony Galante will led the men’s diving team. Galante posted the top scores in in 3-meter and platform dives, but Bergman was right behind him.
WOMEN TO WATCH
Just like the men, the women also have six individual school record holders that are back with the team for 2014-15.
Junior Kaleigh Ritter holds three records of her own in the 500-yd freestyle on up. With senior Dani des Tombe and the addition of freshman Amanda Richey in the distance races, the freestyle expects to be a strong suit for the women this year.
Senior Blair Wegescheide, school record holder in the 50- and 100-yd back, will lead a deep group in the backstroke events. Junior Tatyanna Sarjeant, the 400 IM Pitt record holder is also a strong competitor in all three distances.
All super sophomore Kinga Cichowska did as a freshman was set the school record in both the 100- and 200-yd breaststrokes. With Veronica Lee out from graduation, expect senior Cam Dixon to pick up the slack after a strong junior campaign. Lee was also one of the top butterfly swimmers at Pitt in recent years. That mean’s senior Emily Bolek, who posted the top three times in the 200-yd fly last year, will look for improved performances at the shorter distance.
In diving, the team returns its top two scorers from a year ago, sophomore Rachel Saunders and junior Samantha Winkelmann. But it may be a freshman, Meme Sharp who turns heads this year after sweeping both 1- and 3-meter dives at the Blue-Gold Intrasquad.
UP NEXT
Pitt takes to the road next weekend, keeping it in the ACC with a meet at Georgia Tech on Saturday, Oct. 17 for a preview of the ACC Championships venue in 2015. The women will also be contended by Georgia Southern.
