Female Athlete of the Week

Name: Agnes Mago Sport: Swimming and Diving Year: Junior Major:… Name: Agnes Mago Sport: Swimming and Diving Year: Junior Major: Finance Favorite Food: Chocolate ice cream Favorite Movie: Pride and Prejudice Favorite TV show: The Office Favorite Oakland Spot: Panera Bread

Before even dipping a toe into Trees Pool, Agnes Mago had already traveled across quite a bit of water. She comes from Kecskemet, Hungary.

There she says she started swimming competitively when she was 8 years old, after a family friend noticed she “liked to be in the water, and it started from there.”

Mago says she came to America in 2005 to attend college, first attending Radford College in Radford, Va. Although only at Radford for one season, Mago left her mark. She was named to the All-Northeast Conference Team, earned Rookie-of-the-Meet honors at the NEC Swimming ‘ Diving Championships with three first-place finishes during the meet and was the first swimmer in Radford’s history to post an NCAA B qualifying time, which she did three times.

And then it was onto Pitt.

“I always wanted to swim for a big school,” Mago said.

In her second year as a Panther, the junior has proven she can handle the move as well as the improved competition of the Big East.

Last year, Mago set a school record in the 400-meter individual medley at the Big Al Princeton Invitational and finished third in the 200-meter butterfly at the Big East Championships.

The Panthers are 5-0 this season, but Mago isn’t satisfied with herself at this point in the year.

“My performance isn’t as good this year as last year,” she said, “but I try to contribute to the team as much as I can.”

She seem’s like she’s already improving.

Last weekend against West Virginia, Mago won both the 200 IM and the 500-meter freestyle, and was part of the 400 free relay team that just edged out the Mountaineers by 23 hundredths of a second in the very last event to capture a victory for the Panthers.

“I think the team is doing better this year than last year,” Mago said. “We have more people and a better team spirit. Every single meet everybody is cheering for everyone.”