University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
ACC Championships
Historic Week Ends With Jansen Becoming First ACC Women's Swimming Medalist in a Decade
2/21/2026 11:22:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
ATLANTA, Ga. — Claire Jansen touched the wall in 1:49.99 on Saturday to claim third place in the women's 200 backstroke, becoming the third female swimmer in Pittsburgh program history to earn an ACC Championship medal and capping a historic week at McAuley Aquatic Center.
Jansen's bronze was one of 19 program records broken by Pitt across seven days of competition at the 2026 ACC Swimming and Diving Championships. The Panther women finished sixth overall, the highest finish in program history at ACCs.
The men punctuated the meet with one final record Saturday night, breaking the school mark in the 400 freestyle relay for the fifth relay school record of the week — a sweep of all five relay events. Julian Koch led off in a program record 41.00 seconds, and Merlin Belmon, James Allison and Alan Vergine carried it home in 2:47.68, shattering the previous program record of 2:51.26 set a year ago at this same meet.
The day's distance events brought more standout swims from the Panthers as Drew Henry turned in a 22nd-place finish in the men's 1650 freestyle in 15:15.13, while Cy Zhang dropped more than 20 seconds from his seed time to clock a 15:22.44. Emily Bucaro swam a 16:23.18 in the women's 1650 freestyle, closing out her event with a top-10 finish, clocking in at seventh overall.
Koch added another top-10 finish to his week, finishing fourth in the 100 free.
The women's team finished sixth in the final standings with 552 points. The men placed 11th with 401 points.
Up Next
The Panthers will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 28 for the Bulldog Last Chance Meet in Athens to prepare for the NCAA Championships in March.
Final Team Standings — Women
1. Virginia — 1,410.5
2. Stanford — 1,039
3. California — 1,027.5
4. Louisville — 925
5. NC State — 851.5
6. Pittsburgh — 552
7. North Carolina — 522.5
8. Duke — 432.5
9. VA Tech — 409.5
10. Florida State — 371
11. Notre Dame — 366
12. Miami (FL) — 322
13. Georgia Tech — 274
14. SMU — 261
15. Boston College — 98
Final Team Standings — Men
1. California — 1,154
2. Stanford — 1,076
3. NC State — 973
4. Louisville — 844
5. VA Tech — 715.5
6. Florida State — 624.5
7. Virginia — 577.5
8. North Carolina — 572.5
9. Notre Dame — 488
10. SMU — 407
11. Pittsburgh — 401
12. Georgia Tech — 357
13. Miami (FL) — 162
14. Duke — 138
15. Boston College — 112
Players Mentioned
