Pitt’s Historic NCAAs Latest Step for Growing Women’s Program
The superlatives have rained down on the University of Pittsburgh’s women’s swimming and diving program for much of the last 14 months. Though the women at the center of that know the growth trajectory tracks back far further.
The record housekeeping is voluminous. In 2025, Pitt scored 21 points at the NCAA Championships, finishing 27th as a team. It was the highest finish for the program in 29 years and the second-most points ever scored at an NCAAs by Pitt. Sophie Yendell was the team’s first All-American swimmer since 1986. It had been since 1985 that two different swimmers scored at NCAAs.
A year later, Pitt rewrote all of those accolades. By finishing in a tie for 16th at NCAAs with 55 points, the Panthers made last year’s progress seem almost quaint. And they hope it can be a start of growth rather than a culmination.
“Everyone’s just starting to realize it from the outside, now that we have all these accolades, which is really awesome,” senior Claire Jansen said. “But it’s something that I think we’ve been building to for a really long time. It’s really exciting to see it all pay off and see people realize it. It makes it all worth it.”
Pitt’s Claire Jansen; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Pitt put together a stellar meet in Atlanta last weekend. Jansen led the way, finishing seventh in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 200 back on the final night, up from eighth in prelims. Sydney Gring scored in three events – 16th in the 100 butterfly, 11th in the 100 back and 10th in the 200 individual medley. The team finish and Jansen’s fourth-place trophy are each the best in program history.
A year ago, two swimmers scoring individually was a big deal. This season, two scored in the same event.
A year ago, qualifying all five relays for NCAAs constituted a bullet point. This season, four went to NCAAs and three scored, led by an 800 free relay that finished 13th.
The progress is such that Todd DeSorbo, in lavishing praise on the ACC for preparing his Virginia team for its sixth straight NCAA title, shouted out the conference’s depth by highlighting new arrivals Stanford and California, old mainstays NC State and Louisville, and even the growth of Pitt.
“It’s just really cool,” Jansen said. “It’s been an add up of the past four years. So it’s really cool to be part of the first time where it’s really showing all the hard work that we’ve put in and that everyone has put in on our team. It’s just really great to see it all pay off.”
The historical precedents are wild, like Pitt matching “20 years of relay A cuts in one night” at ACCs or having Jansen win the first ACC medal in a decade. Chase Kreitler, a former Cal assistant, took over the program in April 2022, and its growth in his four seasons has been massive.
Both Gring and Jansen credit Yendell, a five-year performer from England, for helping show the way to NCAAs.
“I think with Sophie, she really set the standard and showed us that it was possible,” Gring said. “Her four years and her progression was insane, and training with her every day and seeing what she did every day really set the tone and set a standard for us as athletes to get at that level and fill the shoes that she did. So it’s really easy when you had a role model like that.”
Last year, Yendell was the senior who won the medals, and Jansen was the junior who made B finals with potential to grow. This year, Jansen is the senior with two medals and Gring is a junior with clear upside. The next year will be a search for that next swimmer to step up.
Sophomore Kimmy Shannon swam in three individual events at NCAAs this year. Avery Kudlac, a junior, was on all four relays, with sophomore Mary Clarke on three.
The talent is growing. But just as importantly, so is the mentality.
“I think the biggest thing on our team now, over the past four years, is going from a team that was trying to peak at ACCs mentally and physically to a team that will peek at NCAAs,” Gring said. “And the girls have really bought into that, and they see that we have bought into that. Starting from my freshman year, not making it, to now making it and scoring, I hope to that they can see the work we put in. I’m training with these girls every day.
“And the one thing is really the confidence. They do it, and I want them to have the confidence that anyone can do it, especially them, if they’re buying in.”
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