Pitt Women Secure NCAA Relay Spot Once More, Continuing Program’s Remarkable Ascension

By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam

2025 Texas Hall of Fame Invitational

• November 18-21, 2025
• Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, TX
• 11:00 am ET swimming prelims/11:30 am diving prelims/7:00 pm ET finals (Tuesday exception: 5 pm ET relay timed finals)
• Championship Format, SCY
• Live Results
• Results on Meet Mobile as “Texas Hall of Fame Swimming Invite”
• Live Recaps
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
  • Prelims: Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

The Pitt women earned another trip to the NCAA Championships after swimming an ‘A’ cut in the women’s 400 free relay last week in Austin with a 3:12.88. The men’s team has also seen success so far as Julian Koch swam to a 41.15 in the 100 free, a time that sits tied for 4th in the NCAA so far this season.

The women’s relay marks just the 2nd year in 20 years that the team will have a relay at NCAAs. Prior to last year, the team had not had a relay at NCAAs since 2006. The team is in its 4th season under head coach Chase Kreitler who arrived from Cal in summer 2022. Last year, the women earned the ‘A’ cut in the 200 medley relay at midseason and went on to swim all five relays at the 2025 NCAA Championships.

The team’s 400 free relay only graduated one swimmer this past season as Sophie Yendell, the team’s #2 100 freestyler last season, finished her 5th year. Despite the loss of Yendell, the team has seen Mary Clarke step into Yendell’s relay spot and the other three legs already step up from a year ago while Claire Jansen dropped over half a second from her split at 2025 NCAAs.

Split Comparison

Jansen spoke of the relay, “It’s a big relief to qualify this early and to know we are on the right track to do even bigger things at championship season. Last year there was a lot of excitement about getting the relays in and now that’s the bare minimum of our goals as a team. We knew going into the last day at midseason we had one more chance to qualify and pressure was on to get it done. Getting that relay in so soon definitely builds confidence, but it also motivates us to keep pushing and refining the details. We know there’s still a lot we want to accomplish, so we’re excited to carry this momentum forward.”

The senior Jansen has now made the NCAA Championships in all four seasons of her career with the Panthers. Back in 2023, she became the first freshman swimmer for Pitt to make NCAAs since 2006.

“It’s been really rewarding and I’m grateful every opportunity to help the team. Over the past four years, I’ve learned a lot from competing at NCAAs, what the environment feels like, what it takes to perform when it matters, and how to handle the highs and lows of a long season. Now as a senior, I’m just trying to use those experiences to support my teammates however I can. I’ve been here through a lot of the program’s growth alongside Chase, and it’s been exciting to see how far we’ve come. My role isn’t about knowing everything, it’s about sharing what I’ve learned, leading by example, and making sure everyone feels confident and fearless,” Jansen said of her NCAA experience.

Junior Sydney Gring echoed what Jansen had to say about the program, “I think last year was the turning point in our program. A lot of the women did some amazing things in training, and we had an amazing training group that pushed each other every day and held each other accountable. And then at the end of the year it showed in our dual meets, conference champs, and NCAAs which opened everyone’s eyes in what Pitt was capable of.”

“I think with ripping the band aid off last year is helping the women this year in not being scared to fail if it meant we were trying to hit faster times at practice or heavier weights in lift. I’ve truly seen a wave of confidence over the team since last season. There’s a lot of momentum coming into the second half of the season as we head into winter training as a lot of the team hit times this season already that were either right on what they hit at ACCs or even faster,” Gring said.

Gring continued, “Even with the success at Texas invite, I don’t think our team goals will be revised because we set them pretty high at the beginning of the year anyway. We sat down as a team and made a google doc of everything we want to accomplish this season, which we set the standard a lot higher than we did last year. We truly believe this year is special. We have a few teams in mind that we want to pass at ACC and NCAA in scoring, and adding more people we want representing in finals at ACC. The team has their eyes on getting more qualifiers to NCAAs both individually and relays and we train like that too which everyone just feeds off. I know what Pitt is going to do this season and I cannot wait to see both our men’s and women’s teams make more history.”

The women’s team is not the only side that has made waves already this season as sophomore Julian Koch swam to a 41.15 in the men’s 100 free last week. Koch entered the meet with a lifetime best 41.85 that he swam at the end of October during a dual meet against Penn State, marking a school record time as well. Prior to Koch’s swim in October, the school record stood at a 42.04 set by Blaise Vera in 2019.

Koch’s best time as a freshman was a 42.41 that he swam leading off the team’s 400 free relay at the 2025 ACC Championships. He was 16th in the individual event at ACCs in a 42.97. His improvement already this fall moves him way up to be a title contender in the event as he currently leads the ACC with his 41.15.

When speaking of his training Koch said, “Compared to last year, my training has stayed relatively similar, though my coaches have made some small adjustments as they figured out what works best for me. The biggest shift has been in my mindset. Missing the NCAAs last year fueled me, it was a wake-up call that made me realize how fast my first year of college went by. Because of that, I put a huge emphasis on the little details in practice, my recovery and lifestyle choices.”

Koch continued “I also think a major driver of my success is the environment we’ve built this year. The team culture has made the process so much more enjoyable, which makes the hard work easier.”

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Pitt Women Punch NCAA Relay Ticket Again, Continuing Historic Program Rise