West Virginia Faces Pitt in Backyard Brawl

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University males’s and ladies’s swimming and diving staff takes on the Pitt Panthers within the newest version of the Backyard Brawl on Saturday at midday at The Peak Health Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown.
 
This is the primary competitors for the Mountaineers since they hosted the WVU Invitational from Nov. 20-22. The males’s staff (2-0) took first place with 2,584 factors and the ladies’s staff (2-1) additionally gained with 1,941 factors.

On the ladies’s facet, a mixture of younger expertise and veterans has led the best way for West Virginia with a number of swimmers posting top-10 occasions this season. Junior Maddie Smutny has two standout performances this yr, as she swam the ninth-fastest time in program historical past within the girls’s 1000-yard freestyle (10:05.75) and the eighth-fastest time in program historical past within the 500-yard freestyle (4:50.29).
 
Freshmen Macey Larson and Tabi Main are off to quick begins of their younger careers, with every posting two top-10 occasions in program historical past. Larson has the fourth-fastest time within the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.35) and the eighth-fastest time within the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.86).
 
Main recorded the ten^th-fastest time within the 100 breast (1:03.39) and the ninth-fastest time within the 200-yard particular person medley (2:02.58).
 
For the lads’s staff, freshman Jake Salcedo, sophomore Szymon Mieczkowski and junior Vedaant Madhavan prepared the ground.
 
At the WVU Invite, Madhavan practically broke this system file within the 1650-yard freestyle, swimming the second-fastest time (15:19.43) whereas profitable the occasion. He additionally posted the fifth-fastest time in program historical past within the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.20) on the meet.
 
Mieczkowski has been one of the crucial dominant swimmers for the Mountaineers in latest meets, main the staff with three particular person wins on the WVU Invite. He holds top-10 occasions within the 100-yard backstroke (46.44) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:42.47).
 
Salcedo has been constantly profitable all season within the distance occasions. Last outing, he gained the 500-yard freestyle whereas swimming the fifth-fastest time (4:23.80) in program historical past. He additionally gained two particular person occasions towards Loyola (Md.) in early November. He at present holds the third-fastest time in program historical past within the 1000 freestyle (9:14.42).
This meet begins a gauntlet for the Mountaineers in January as they are going to compete on the Big 12 East Showdown in Houston on Jan. 16-17, host Villanova and Duquesne (girls’s solely) on Jan. 24, and face Penn State in Morgantown on Jan. 30.
 
The Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships are slated for Feb. 24-28, in Greensboro, North Carolina.
 
For extra info on the Mountaineers, go to WVUsports.com and observe WVUSwimDive on X, Facebook and Instagram.