Swimming and Diving: Panthers ready to begin season

The Pitt women’s swimming and diving team is essentially starting from scratch this season as… The Pitt women’s swimming and diving team is essentially starting from scratch this season as 15 freshmen prepare for their collegiate debuts.

Head coach Chuck Knoles said that this means a lot of the coaches’ attention has been focused on preparing the young athletes for competition.

“All of our practices so far have focused on: what are the basics of swimming, how do you start well, how do you turn well, how do you finish well, and I guess the proof will be in the pudding with them,” Knoles said.

The swimming and diving team will hit the pool for the first time against an opponent this season when it faces Buffalo at home on Friday at 5 p.m. and St. Bonaventure in Olean, N.Y., on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Expectations are high for the freshman class after the majority of events in the Blue-Gold Intrasquad Meet on Oct. 14 featured strong performances from the new recruits, including first-place finishes from Dani des Tombe in the 200 free, Emily Bolek in the 200 fly and Tatyanna Sarjeant in the 200 IM and the 200 back. Ashley Broderick also picked up a first place finish for the freshman class on the 1-meter board.

Although there are only three seniors on the women’s roster, senior Tamara Lelli said the Panthers are “a lot stronger already at the beginning point of the season than [we were] last season.”

She said she expects the Panthers to set pool records at their meets this weekend.

While the women’s team debuts a roster of freshmen, the men’s side has a more balanced mixture of young and seasoned swimmers.

This could give the men’s team a slight advantage as it prepares for the season.

“On our men’s side, we have a nice combination of a small group of incoming young, very fast, very confident freshmen who are combining with a very experienced older group of guys,” Knoles said.

The team will need both its young and old athletes to perform well as it looks to redeem itself against Buffalo, a squad against which the Panthers didn’t fare well last year.

The men’s team fell to Buffalo in a close meet, 127-116, in the 2010-2011 season opener.

“[I expect] a little bit of a revenge factor [for the men’s team] going into the meet with Buffalo,” Knoles said.

Senior Rousseau Kluever said the team is very excited and will use the meets this weekend to “lay a good foundation for the rest of the season.”