Pitt
Penn State
Pitt Travels to Penn State for Weekend Meet
10/24/2024 4:00:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
PITTSBURGH – The Pitt Swimming & Diving program travels across the state to University Park, PA to face off against Penn State on Friday and Saturday.
Pitt meets with Penn State for the 29th time in program history. The men won last year's meet 256-97 while the women won last year's meet 199-154.
The Panthers won 13 of the 16 relay events at their season-opening relay meet at Carnegie Mellon at the beginning of the month.
Penn State Meet, October 25th & 26th – Event Schedule
Friday, 5 PM Start Time
Swimming: 400 Medley Relay/500 Free/100 Breast/200 Back/100 Free/400 Individual Medley/100 Fly/200 Freestyle Relay
Diving: Women's 3m/Men's 1m
Saturday, 10 AM Start Time
Diving: Men's 3m Women's 1m
Swimming: 200 Medley Relay /1000 Free/200 Individual Medley/50 Free/200 Free/200 fly/100 Back/200 Breast/400 Freestyle Relay
Meet Notes: Penn State
New Year, New Staff
- Head Coach Chase Kreitler and Head Diving Coach Katie Kasprzak added four new members to the coaching staff in the summer.
- Associate Head Coach Gideon Louw: the former Olympian is coming from Auburn where he spent his last six seasons and helped mentor 32 All-Americans.
- Assistant Swim Coach Michael Kinross: Kinross was previously the head coach at Bishop Gorman High School and assistant head coach for the Sandpipers of Nevada in Las Vegas, NV. He guided 42 Sandpipers to swim collegiately at 32 different universities and was named the NIAA 5A Southern Regional Boys Coach of the Year in 2023.
- Assistant Swim Coach Kaersten Meitz: Meitz was a four-time All-American and four-year NCAA qualifier at Purdue (2014-2018). She joins the Panthers following a stint as an assistant coach at Washington State last season.
- Assistant Dive Coach Ford McLiney: McLiney was U.S. National Team finalist on all three diving events and had a standout collegiate career at Texas A&M where he tallied two SEC Championship titles (3m, Platform) in 2014. Prior to Pitt, McLiney was most recently a volunteer diving coach at Rockurst University.
Head Diving Coach Katie Kasprzak
- Last year, Kasprzak was named the 2023-24 ACC Men's Diving Coach of the Year. She became the first female coach to earn an ACC Swimming and Diving Coach of the Year accolade.
- Reigning Men's ACC Diver of the Year, Cameron Cash, returns for his senior season following a phenomenal junior year in 2023-24.
- Cash earned All-America (3M), All-ACC honors and qualified for NCAA's in all three diving events last season.
- Was the 2024 ACC Champion in the 3M and Platform.
- Diver Mariana Osorio Mendoza enters her second year at Pitt.
- She posted the second highest score for a women's platform dive in Pitt history (296.48) in their meet against Minnesota last season
- Mendoza would also go on to break the Princeton Pool record on Platform with her first-place finish of (300.85) later in the year.
- She recently won three medals, including two golds, at the South American Games in her home country of Colombia.
- Set two individual school records (50 Free, 100 Fly) and three relay school records (200 Free, 400 Free, 400 Medley) last season
- Was an NCAA Championship qualifier for the second-consecutive season in 2023
- Placed first five times last season
- One of three womens' captains
- Set a new school record in the 50 Back (24.34) at ACC Championships and in the 100 back (52.06) at Bulldog Last Chance
- Broke the school record as a member of the 400 Medley team with a time of 3:36.10 at Minnesota
- 2023 Pitt Newcomer of the Year
- Holds the school record for the 200 Free (1:33.85), setting it at the ACC Championships
- Brought home a bronze medal in the 100 Back (55.09) at Polish Nationals
- Named one of the three mens' captains for the 2024-25 season
- Finished in fourth place in the 50 Back (25.62) at Polish Nationals
- Swam a personal best in both the 50 Free (19.78) and 100 Free (44.02) prelims at the ACC Championships
- NCAA Championship qualifier in the 400 IM (finished 31st) and was invited to compete in the 200 IM (finished 44) and 200 Breast (finished 36th)
- Won a silver medal in the 400 IM at the ACC Championships last season
Players Mentioned
