Weekend Sports Recap | Wrestling shares ACC Title, swim and dive break multiple records

With the spring season now in full swing, Pitt athletics had one of their busiest weekends of the year. Notably wrestling earned a share of the ACC regular season championship title while other sports started their respective seasons with wins.

Swim and Dive

The Panthers spent their weekend competing in the ACC Championship at the Greensboro Aquatic Center Friday and Saturday. The tournament concluded with Pitt breaking 17 records, the women’s team earning their first NCAA qualifier in five years and the men’s team finishing in No. 7 overall which is their highest finish in program history.

On Friday, senior Adam Mahler started out with an incredible performance in the 200m fly, crushing the school record and earning a spot in the A Finals.

To finish off the night both men’s and women’s 400 medley relays broke school records. First-year Claire Jansen, junior Sophie Yendell, senior Tatum Detwiler and senior Kate Furhmann finished No. 8 in the women’s relay. Sophomore Krztsztof Radziszweski, senior Flynn Crisci, junior Marcin Goraj and senior Dominic Toledo finished No. 7 overall for the men’s.

The tournament continued Saturday and the Panthers compiled even more strong performances. Yendell had an impressive weekend, setting new school records in the 200-medley relay and the 50-free. This is her sixth record broken in her career at Pitt. 

Pitt appears back in the water March 6-8 in Morgantown, West Virginia to compete in the NCAA Zone Diving meet. 

Track and field

Pitt track and field had a total of nine first-place finishes this weekend at the Bucknell Tune-Up and Al Campell invites.

At the Bucknell Tune-Up meet, both men’s and women’s distance medley teams took first place. For the men’s mile, second-year Finn Walsh finished in first place with a time of 4:09.79 seconds and set a faculty record. Junior Emily Brown broke another faculty record in the women’s 800-meter dash, finishing first.

At the Al Campell invite, the Panthers secured first place in both the men’s and women’s high jump, women’s weight throw and men’s shot put. 

The indoor season concludes next weekend with the ACC Indoor Championship in Louisville.

Baseball

Pitt’s baseball team had their 2023 season debut in Sarasota, Florida this weekend with a commendable performance, but ultimately fell short in their series against Maine. 

Friday started with the Panther’s season opener where they captured their first win against the Black Bears. Pitt took the game in the eighth inning, breaking the tie with four runs to solidify the win. 

Saturday the Panthers retained a manageable deficit until the fifth inning when the Black Bears scored six runs in a row. Pitt took a 7-11 loss. Pitt competed in the series finale on Sunday but ultimately lost an 8-5 decision to Maine.

The Panthers return to Florida next weekend to face Harvard in a weekend series.

Softball

Pitt softball spent their weekend in Miami for the FIU Panther invitational. The Panthers advanced to the championship against No. 23 Mizzou but ultimately fell short. 

Friday’s first game against Missouri started out strong with a double in the top of the first inning from graduate student Yvonne Whaley, who eventually scored to take an early lead. However, Pitt ended up losing 2-5.

Pitt faced Florida International in their second game on Friday and won 7-4, splitting the day. 

The Panthers swept day two of the tournament, taking wins over Butler and FIU, and advanced to the championship against Mizzou. The Panthers held the lead for the first four innings but ultimately lost after a four-run streak in the fifth inning by the Tigers. 

Pitt plays in Houston next weekend for the University of Houston three-day Tournament. 

Wrestling

Pitt concluded its home-scheduled season on Saturday, securing a share of the ACC title against Duke.

After lingering at the top of the ACC all season long, the Panthers (10-4, 4-1 ACC) won nine bouts against the Blue Devils (3-12, 0-5 ACC) to take the ACC regular-season championship title. 

Junior Colton Camacho did what he’s done all season long and started the Panthers out strong with the first win on Saturday night. From there Pitt dominated, clinching a 43-3 victory.

The Panther’s ACC Championship meet is set for March 5 at NC State.

Men’s Basketball

Pitt men’s basketball fumbled a key opportunity to secure their first-place standings in the ACC on Saturday night, falling to 19-8 in their game against Virginia Tech. 

The Panthers started out strong in the first five minutes of the half, largely because of the Hokies’ turnovers and fouls. However, the tables quickly turned when Pitt found itself with 10 fouls in the second half, sending Virginia tech to the free-throw line all game long.

Not only did the Panthers have defensive troubles, but their offense could not capitalize on three-point attempts either. Pitt went three for 18 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Panthers have another chance to climb back up the ACC standings in a home game on Tuesday against Georgia Tech. 

Women’s Gymnastics 

Pitt (9-10, 2-3 EAGL) lost against North Carolina Sunday afternoon in the Annual Pride Meet. In a close contest, the Panthers fell short with a total score of 194.950 to North Carolina’s 195.700.

Despite the loss, sophomore Hallie Copperwheat finished first in the all-around with a score of 39.250. First-year Reyna Garvey took third place on beam as well.

Pitt competes next in Durham, NH for a quad meet on Feb. 26. 

Women’s Basketball

Pitt fell to 10-17 on the year against No. 10 Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon on senior day at the Petersen Events Center. 

Senior Amber Brown led the Panthers in scoring, earning 13 points. She also had two steals and shot five for seven from the floor. 

The Panthers fell behind fast in the first three minutes of the game, calling a time-out after Notre Dame took a 13-5 lead. The Panthers never recovered from the deficit, and they lost 83-43.

Pitt suffered the worst loss of its season, but head coach Lance White said the team shot much better on the road against Notre Dame.

“Notre Dame is the tenth-best team in the country for a reason,” White said. “I thought we got too carried away with missing shots that we then couldn’t defend and rebound and play with the energy to work hard enough to get the next best shot for our basketball team.”

The Panthers return Thursday night for their last home game against Syracuse.