Swimming & Diving: Another challenge awaits men’s swimming, diving at championships

The Panthers men’s swimming and diving team has a tough act to follow.

A week after Pitt’s women’s swimming and diving team enjoyed a successful bout at the team’s first-ever Atlantic Coastal Conference championship meet — in which the team broke seven school records and finished eighth overall — the men’s team heads down to Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday for the ACC championships that begin today and continue through Saturday.

But trying to duplicate or better the women’s contingent isn’t the first challenge the men’s team has faced this year.

The team, currently 5-2 on the season, finished third in the Big East championships last year, but had to replace 11 departing swimmers in 2013-2014. Also, head coach Chuck Knoles said in an interview on the team website that the ACC is “a very, very strong swimming and diving conference,” adding, “We are going to be walking into a conference championship that’s much different than the Big East. We’re going to be fighting for any position we can get.”

Nonetheless, Knoles said he’s excited to enter a tournament that has been so precisely organized to ensure high levels of competition.

“[The conference] is going to run a first-class event at a first-class facility,” he said. “It’s going to be a nice competition.”

Despite the turnover from just a year ago and the fact that the roster sports only two seniors, the men’s team does have a handful of standout swimmers and divers to keep an eye on come the time of the championships, all of which can be streamed on the ACC’s official website.

David Sweeney — Sweeney, a sophomore out of Acworth, Ga., took the Panthers swimming and diving scene by storm last year, securing the 2012-2013 team’s top times in the 100-meter, 200-meter, 300-meter, 500-meter and 1,000-meter freestyles. In the process, Sweeney was named team MVP as a freshman for his efforts. 

The sophomore slump hasn’t plagued him either. He has been just as successful in the 2013-2014 season, posting the team’s top times in the 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter freestyle and 500-meter freestyle. He looks to continue to build on what, in a short span of time, is already a very impressive resumé.

Kourosh Ahani — A junior out of Richmond Hill, Toronto, Ahani is arguably the most accomplished swimmer on the squad. A 2013 NCAA national meet participant, Ahani has never lost a 100-meter butterfly race, and, as a high school student, was the fastest 50-meter and 100-meter butterfly swimmer in all of Canada. He also holds Pitt’s record for the 100-meter butterfly, which he set at last year’s Big East championship and has four of the team’s five best times in the 100-meter butterfly.

Mack Rice — Like fellow sophomore Sweeney, Rice impressed last year as a freshman, setting a new program record in the 200-meter individual medley at the Big East championships. Hailing from Cincinnati, Rice has posted the Panthers’ best times this season in the 50-meter backstroke, 100-meter backstroke and the 200-meter individual medley.

Zach Lierley — One of two freshmen who has made a big impact in the 2013-2014 season, Lierley, the brother of Pitt junior swimmer Jon Lierley — the record holder for Pitt’s 200-meter butterfly — has impressed in his first year of collegiate swimming. Out of Mount Pleasant, S.C., Lierley has posted the three best times for the team this year in the 200-meter backstroke as well as the top two marks in 400-meter individual medley and three of the top five times in the 200-meter individual medley. He was also a member of the United States national junior team and was named South Carolina’s state high school swimmer of the year as a senior in 2012.

Scott Simmer — The other freshman to make a name for himself this season, Simmer has impressed with his long-distance prowess, notching the team’s top three times in the 1,000-meter freestyle and 1,650-meter freestyle. All the way from Los Angeles, Simmer — like fellow freshman Lierley — was a member of the U.S. National junior team and was also an Olympic trial qualifier out of high school.