Pitt
AT&T Winter Nationals
Panthers Finish Strong at AT&T Winter Nationals
12/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA—Pitt swimming finished up its weekend at AT&T Winter Nationals with a strong Saturday that was highlighted by Valerie Daigneault breaking her own Pitt record in the 200 back.
Daigneault's time of 1:56.80 in her B final race Saturday in Atlanta broke her previous Pitt record of 1:57.07 that she set two weeks ago at Ohio State. The freshman placed fourth in her B final heat after qualifying 13th in the 200 back with a preliminary time of 1:57.38.
Also performing well for the Panthers Saturday were Aaron Sett, who placed 15th in the men's freestyle mile with a personal record of 15:23.23; Emily Murphy, who finished strong in a B heat final in the 100 free with a time of 50.19 after qualifying 16th with a prelim time of 50.31; and Luke Smutny, who significantly dropped his PR in the 200 fly with a time of 1:48.78 in the finals after swimming a 1:50.14 in his preliminary heat to place 15th.
Pitt's finishes at AT&T Winter Nationals were definitely a welcome result, according to first-year Panther head coach John Hargis.
"The kids competed well this weekend and did a great job of improving on several personal bests and season bests," Hargis said. "Valerie breaking the 200 back record again as a freshman was great, and we're excited to see what she can do in the championship season. Aaron also swam the best mile of his life today, and we think he can do even better. It was a great meet. We're looking forward to getting back to training to prepare for our packed schedule in January."
Adding to Pitt's results on its final day in Atlanta, Brian Lovasik swam a 45.50 in the 100 free to advance to the men's C final, where he dropped his time to 45.26 to place third in that heat; Zach Lierley also qualified for a C final in the 200 breast, posting a PR of 2:00.49 in the preliminaries and swimming a 2:01.46 in his final heat; Samy Helmbacher (34th, 2:04.71) and Brian Ramsey (37th, 2:05.52) also competed in the men's 200 breast; and Sarah Giamber finished up her AT&T Winter Nationals experience with a 37th-place finish in the 200 back in a time of 2:02.46.
The Panthers will take part in the annual Pitt Christmas Meet from Dec. 15-18 at Trees Pool before the squad fully returns to action after the New Year with a Backyard Brawl retro dual against West Virginia on Jan. 7 at Trees Pool at 10 a.m. on ACC Network Extra and via the WatchESPN app.
#H2P | #H2oP | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Players Mentioned
