PITTSBURGH—The Pitt swimming & diving team returns to action this weekend in Atlanta at the AT&T Winter Nationals as a group of 11 Panthers will have the opportunity to race against some of the nation’s top competition on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center.
Pitt head coach John Hargis and his staff are looking for continued improvements after the Panthers set six school records and numerous personal records in their last meet at the Ohio State Fall Invitational two weekends ago.
“We’re hoping to see our 11 representatives continue to swim at their absolute best,” Hargis said. “There will be some of the top college and club teams in the nation in Atlanta this weekend. This is another great opportunity for our student-athletes to grow and develop while competing at another prestigious meet against talented competition.”
Representing the Pitt men will be Zach Lierley, Henrique Machado, Aaron Sett, Brian Lovasik, Samy Helmbacher, Brian Ramsey and Luke Smutny; for the Pitt women, Amanda Richey, Emily Murphy, Valerie Daigneault and Sarah Giamber will be in action.
For Richey and Daigneault, it will be their first meet since setting Pitt school records in the 1650 free and 1000 free (Richey) as well as the 200 back (Daigneault).
The 2016 AT&T Winter Nationals started on Wednesday with two relay events, but the Panthers will be in action starting Thursday and continuing through Saturday as preliminary heats are held each day beginning at 9 a.m. before event finals start at 5 p.m.