1-16-18

The Pitt News

The independent student newspaper of the University of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | January 16, 2018 | Volume 108 | Issue 89

EXTENDED Students serve community on MLK Jr. Day BREAK MIGHT MEAN LONGER CLASSES Ashwini Sivaganesh and John Hamilton The Pitt News Staff

If you are signed up for a class that meets on Monday this semester, you might be asked to stay a little longer or come in on a Saturday — if your professor is following instructions from the provost’s office.

A message from the Academic Calendar Committee informed professors and University departments that they should coordinate arrangements to make up for a “missing” class day. Because of the extended winter break, this semester has one less day than the 2017 fall semester and three less than recent spring semesters.

According to the message, each class at Pitt must have 14 weeks of instructions — not including finals week. But because of the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the extended winter break, classes that meet Monday won’t fulfill that requirement — meeting only 13 Mondays.

“What is important is that an option is chosen for each affected course and that students are informed early in the term regarding the specific remedy,” the message says.

The provost’s office gives professors the following options on how to make up for the missed class. However, some of the time suggested to make up doesn’t quite make sense. “(1) If a class meets on Monday See Monday on page 2

First year Michael Markham and sophomore Lily Turner help paint the Homewood Concerned Citizens Council offices Monday as part of Pitt Student Affairs’ Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. John Hamilton | MANAGING EDITOR

Kenan Meral and Luke Stambaugh The Pitt News Staff

A group of students from Pitt’s Litchfield Tower B offered a warm respite from the bitter cold as they served soups and sandwiches to hungry Homewood residents who visited the Bethesda Presbyterian Church Monday.

They weren’t the only group of Pitt students spending the day this way. Approximately 1,000 students dedicated their Monday off from school to serving the community in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. PittServes organized the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service to send students, faculty and alumni to work with organizations such as the VA Hospital, Emmaus Community and Wilkinsburg Borough Department of

Public Works.

Buses left from Pitt at 8:30 a.m., and most students returned from their assigned projects around 2:30 p.m. Martin Luther King Jr. Day ended with a vigil in remembrance of civil rights activism in the past and recognition of the social struggles of the modern era.

At Bethesda Presbyterian in Homewood, Jahvon Dockery, a senior computer science and business major, saw Martin Luther King Jr. Day as an opportunity to address these contemporary realities.

Dockery associates closely with Alternative Break, an organization that offers service opportunities during the spring recess.

Rev. Jermaine McKinley led the community-centered service in an effort to provide a decent meal for anyone who wanted to stop in. The reverend managed

her operation with her faith in mind and monitored the facility to make sure everyone was thoroughly cared for.

“Many elders are drastically underserved by the community,” McKinley said.

George Muirhead, a first-year political science major, chose to partake in the collective service on Monday with his fellow residents.

“The worst thing you can do is stand by and watch something bad happen,” Muirhead said.

Aaron Hill, a junior political science and communications double major, reminded students of this Monday night with a continuation of the day’s focus.

“We must always march forward, we cannot turn back,” Hill said, referencing See MLK Jr. Day on page 3

News

Sonja Finn secures Dems’ endorsement

Elise Lavallee

Contributing Editor Sonja Finn, 38, was nominated Sunday afternoon to run as the democratic candidate in the District 8 City Council seat special election.

With no contest from a republican candidate, Finn is expected to run against Erika Strassburger and Marty Healey in the special election March 6. Though in the past the democraticendorsed candidate usually earned the seat, Strassburger could pose a potential threat to Finn’s election.

Members of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee residing in District 8 were eligible to vote from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14, in Sanger Lecture Hall at Chatham University. Of 73 eligible members, 47 showed up to cast

Monday, pg. 1 evening and there are no other classes scheduled after it, the instructor could add a few minutes to selected class meeting to make up for the deficit of 150 minutes. A few possible strategies include: (i) For Monday only classes, the instructor could add 12 minutes per class for 13 class meetings, or 25 minutes for 6 class meetings, or some other variation. (ii) For a Monday — two day per week class, the instructor could add 6 minutes per class for 27 class meetings, or 13 minutes for 12 class meetings, or some other variation. (iii) For a Monday — three day per week class, the instructor could add 4

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their ballot.

Strassburger was the predicted party nominee, given her time spent as chief of staff for Dan Gilman, the previous councilperson who stepped down to serve as chief of staff to Mayor Bill Peduto Jan. 3. Gilman also publicly endorsed Strassburger on his Twitter account.

“I worked as hard as possible and will continue to work as hard as possible running as an independent,” Strassburger said.

She lost to Finn by seven votes Sunday, but declined to comment on the voting process for the special election nomination following Sunday’s results.

“I feel I am the best prepared and most qualified for the position,” she said in an interview after the vote.

Healey — who received zero votes for

the party nomination — left immediately after the announcement. He informed The Incline earlier last week, though, he will continue to run as an independent.

Finn earned her undergraduate degree in Sociology with a focus in urban planning from Columbia University in 2001. According to a statement from her website, Finn’s campaign is committed to “strategic development, quality public education, and employee welfare to ensure Pittsburgh is a place where all its citizens, new and old, have the opportunity to thrive.”

Chelsa Wagner, County Controller of Allegheny County and 2005 Pitt Law alumna, assisted with Finn’s campaign.

She previously served southern and western neighborhoods of Pittsburgh as a member of the state House of Repre-

sentatives from 2006-2011.

“My goal is to get good leadership into office, and any one who knows Sonja knows she is a strong female leader,” Wagner said.

She will continue to help with Finn’s campaign through the election on March 6.

This election will take place during Pitt students’ spring recess. Any student who wishes to vote in the special election — but will be out of town on election day — should submit an absentee ballot by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27. More information on absentee voting can be found at votespa.com.

“I’m really, really honored,” Finn said after the announcement of her nomination. “People agree with me, and they agree with my message.”

minutes per class minutes [for] 41 class meetings, or 6 minutes per class meeting for 25 class meetings, or some other variation,” according to the message.

For a weekly class meeting on Monday, a full 150 minutes of class time is lost this semester. But a Monday class that meets two or three times per week is only losing 75 or 50 minutes, respectively. However, the message’s suggestion treats all classes the same — requiring all to make up 150 minutes. Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick did not comment on this discrepancy.

The message also suggests a Saturday meeting or an online class for the needed amount of lost time. In this case, the message says professors should add the same amount of time as the missed Monday class.

“University leaders and faculty are

free to modify any of the suggestions or determine their own solutions in selecting the option that best fits their curricular needs,” Zwick added.

During the previous three spring semesters, classes have resumed the first Wednesday of the new year. Throughout those semesters, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday classes met 15 times, Tuesday classes met 14 times and Monday classes met 13 times.

Those extra days allowed Monday/ Wednesday and Monday/Wednesday/ Friday classes to make up the missing day. Tuesday/Thursday classes or a class that met once a week on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, had a bonus day.

And, if you were in a Monday class that met once a week, it seems you actually had a week less of instruction during the past three spring semesters.

Zwick did not comment on whether or not Pitt had a policy for making up these classes in the past.

Zwick also did not comment on if and how the policy would be enforced, but said a reminder would be sent out to department deans this week.

Though some professors have heard about this year’s policy, others were unaware until asked by The Pitt News.

Laura Bucci, a professor in the political science department, said she hadn’t heard about the policy but was unconcerned about the missing time, saying the material could be covered later in the semester.

“I hope that students use MLK day as a day of service and to get to know Pittsburgh and its political needs a bit better,” Bucci said.

January 16, 2018

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MLK Jr. Day, pg. 1 King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Hill and his brothers from the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity braved the weather to host the night’s candlelight vigil and remind Pitt’s community that there is still important work to be done.

Along with the Omicron chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., students gathered outside of the William Pitt Union to reflect on the life of King.

Joshua Gills, a senior at Duquesne University studying business and finance, is the president of the Omicron chapter of the fraternity and said its goal for this event, and the organization as a whole, is to help the community. Alpha Phi Alpha aims to follow the example set

by King, a member of the fraternity in his lifetime.

“He is a brother of this fraternity, and we aim to highlight his accomplishments,” Gills said. “Helping out the community and being instrumental in other people’s lives is something we hold dear to our hearts.”

Ian Gray, secretary of Alpha Phi Al-

Junior communication and political science major Aaron Hill speaks in front of participants at Alpha Phi Alpha’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day candlelight vigil Monday night. Thomas Yang | VISUAL EDITOR pha and a Pitt junior studying biology and psychology, spoke to the specific goals and importance of Monday’s event.

“The importance of this event is kind of twofold,” Gray said. “It’s a remembering of our history and our fallen brother ... but also it’s to remind ourselves to never forget the message that he had.

The fight for civil justice and social justice for all races, not just African-Amer-

icans but all minorities.”

Gray expressed serious disdain with some of the attitudes people have about King’s legacy, especially on Pitt’s campus.

“When your mom says ‘do the dishes’ you hear her, but you forget five minutes later,” Gray said. “The problem is that people think that hearing is the same thing as listening. They hear his [Martin

Luther King Jr.’s] message all the time, but it’s in one ear and out the other.”

This message was echoed by Hill, one of the speakers at the vigil. He said the sections of King’s “I Have A Dream” speech that were read during the vigil were chosen because they expressed the modern-day struggle for equality — the struggle against complacency.

“We must progress and progress even if we have made changes from then to now, and we’re still fighting for those changes, we always have to keep moving,” Hill said.

After the vigil, the fraternity led everyone indoors to discuss the passages from the speech and apply them to issues people face today. Gills said the combination of a vigil and dialogue would help people understand the message King staked his life on.

“Hopefully people will take away that it doesn’t matter who you are, you can still make an impact in your community,” Gills said. “As long as people can walk away and say, ‘I can make a difference in someone else’s life, and I can better them,’ I can say we’ve done our job.”

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January 16,2018

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Opinions

column

from the editorial board

Last Jedi puts

Nuclear scare proves unpreparedness

In less time than it takes to log into a twofactor authenticated Pitt email account, an employee of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency caused pandemonium in the state with the click of a mouse.

During a routine checkup of the state’s nuclear response system Saturday, a worker responsible for testing the system inadvertently sent an alert telling Hawaiians a ballistic nuclear warhead was heading toward them. Department workers didn’t correct the false alarm for 38 minutes. While other state politicians, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, DHawaii, confirmed before then that the message was wrong, many on the islands and the mainland were understandably troubled and angered.

One person who seemed markedly unconcerned about the state of affairs in the Pacific, however, spent the duration of the crisis on a golf green in Florida. But President Donald Trump — whose first interaction with the public after the occurrence was a tweet decrying “Fake News” — wasn’t the only part of the response that’s concerning for future events requiring nuclear preparedness. The United States is woefully unprepared for a nuclear attack in 2018, and the current federal administration is only making matters worse.

In the aftermath of Saturday’s scare, Hawaii’s state government took full responsibility for the mistaken alarm. Trump told reporters outside his golf course Saturday as much — that he considered the whole incident a state issue.

“That was a state thing, but we are going to now get involved with them,” Trump said.

“They took total responsibility. But we are going to get involved.”

Given the massive failure Hawaii’s government experienced trying to organize nuclear attack preparedness on its own, look-

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ing toward other levels of government might seem appealing in some ways. In a tweet Saturday, Federal Communication Commission Chairperson Ajit Pai called the state’s emergency notification system malfunction “absolutely unacceptable,” promising a federal investigation into Hawaii’s lack of safeguards against false alarms.

However, it’s hard to see the federal government — under its current direction — as much of a help for Hawaii’s — and the entire United States’ — nuclear attack preparedness. The secretary of energy is responsible for a wide variety of issues, including how the nation deals with its nuclear weapons arsenal and monitors nuclear tests by other countries, such as North Korea. Trump’s energy secretary — former Texas governor Rick Perry — has memorably proposed shutting down the department entirely.

Of course, how state and federal agencies react to nuclear fears and the potential for nuclear attacks would be much different if nuclear tensions with North Korea weren’t so serious already. And much of the blame for the friction falls on Trump, who boasted over Twitter earlier this month that his nuclear button was bigger than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s.

It’s angering and discomforting that both state and federal governments have such little concern for an issue that is looming larger and larger as tensions increase. Commonsense responses to a nuclear strike, such as seeking shelter as far below ground level as possible, shouldn’t be the only line of defense for Americans, whether in Honolulu or in Pittsburgh.

We shouldn’t have to worry about what to do in the event of a nuclear strike, but because of our leaders, we do. The least they can do now is make sure what happened in Hawaii this weekend never happens again.

wo m e n in the lead

Maggie Durwald Columnist

Not so long ago in a town not so far away, I ran around the house with a blanket for a cape and a blue plastic lightsaber, pretending to be Darth Vader. My twin brother favored Luke Skywalker. We spent hours clacking our lightsabers together and waving our hands wildly at each other in a frenetic demonstration of the Force.

Eventually, we stuck our lightsabers in the basement and hung up our blanket cloaks. I lost contact with the Star Wars saga until “The Force Awakens” was released in 2015 as the first installment of the new trilogy. I didn’t like the movie.

And then “The Last Jedi” came out last month. I left the theater as excited and ready to take on the galaxy as I had been as a child.

“The Last Jedi” has something conspicuously absent in the seven other episodes in the series: complex, realistic female characters.

That is, women in powerful positions with speaking roles and sig-

January 16, 2018

nificance to the plot. Before Episode VIII, female fans had few female characters to look up to. In the original trilogy, Princess Leia was a damsel in distress with a blaster who was eventually reduced to a bikini-clad sex symbol.

In the prequels, Padme Amidala served mostly as a love interest to the protagonist and mother of the original hero.

The newest film gives feminists something more to hang onto. It follows powerful women pulling the same tricks that Han Solo and Luke Skywalker used to pull. The galaxy of men fighting men suddenly seems to have found a place for women.

Director Rian Johnson handles women in this film better than any of his predecessors. Anyone could have added more nameless female characters to the casting list, but he created numerous strong female characters with complex stories and faults of their own — kind of like their flesh-and-blood counterparts. And while the decision may simply be a sign of the See Durwald on page 5

Liam McFadden | STAFF ILLUSTRATOR

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Durwald, pg. 4

directives from male characters. Their friendship and unwavering support of each other is the reason they succeed.

And I think strong women working together, fighting for each other, is an even more powerfully feminist message than that of the solitary female warrior.

The film also gives a voice to minority women through the character of Rose Tico. Kelly Marie Tran, a VietnameseAmerican actress, plays Rose, a Resistance mechanic whose sister makes a heroic sacrifice at the beginning of the film. Rose proves to be a strong, compassionate hero, and Tran breaks all stereotypes for Asian women in film.

Whereas Hollywood has a history of casting Asian women in the roles of “sex workers or characters described as submissive, fragile or quiet,” according to an April 2017 article by Sam Levin in the Guardian, Rose is a smart, bold hero.

Many male fans have voiced their dissatisfaction with the heightened role of women in Star Wars online, claiming that the male figures are portrayed as weak and inferior to the women. In a thread on Quora, one fan writes that the movie’s female lead is portrayed as “nat-

urally awesome just by being a woman.”

Some of these fans also claim that the franchise is pushing away their fan base by attempting to appeal more to women and minorities.

Evidently, these critics see Star Wars as a boys’ club. But so many groups, including women, have been fans since 1977 without any substantial representation in the films. It’s refreshing and exciting to finally see these viewers reflected back in important characters on the big screen.

“The Last Jedi” is by no means the end point for feminists’ work toward equal representation in mass media.

However, the move toward a more positive and realistic representation of women and minorities in this film was well done and exciting for old fans and new.

In the meantime, I’m excited for a new generation of young girls who get to pretend to be the heroines I wish I could’ve been growing up.

Maggie primarily writes about social issues and economics for The Pitt News.

Write to Maggie at mad338@pitt.edu.

The Pitt news crossword 1/16/18

improving gender politics of our times, the changes to female characters in the movie is encouraging.

Rey, the main protagonist of the new trilogy, is a solitary scavenger whose parents left her at a young age, and early on she shows a powerful ability to use the Force. She’s strong, tough and utterly confused by her place in the galaxy — a struggle I find highly relatable.

Critics, such as freelance writer Jon Brown in a column for the Daily Caller, have decried Rey as a “Mary Sue,” a typically female character who can do no wrong and is the model of perfection.

Yet Rey’s general cluelessness and propensity to get into bad situations show that she is as much a student as Luke was in the original trilogy, with just as many faults. She’s powerful but relatable. I would have loved pretending to be her growing up.

“The Last Jedi” introduced another strong female character in Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo. The purple-haired Resistance leader proves to be one of the

more complex characters in the film.

She argues with hotshot pilot Poe Dameron, who questions her ability to lead the starship. Viewers question her competency along with him. In the end, an act of heroism dismisses any doubts that Holdo is a strong leader, but the most compelling part of her character is her relationship with General Leia.

Portraying women in positions of power is one thing, but perhaps more important is seeing powerful women working together. The Bechdel Test is an bare-minimum indicator of female representation in movies — those that pass the test contain at least two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man.

None of original trilogy films pass this test — they contain just three female characters with speaking roles, only two of whom ever come into contact with each other. The next three films do slightly better, but female characters are still noticeably scarce and isolated from each other amidst an army of men.

“The Last Jedi” passes the Bechdel Test in part because Leia and Holdo work together to save the Resistance sans

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January 16,2018

5

Culture

Miguel’s album review online

PITT ALUM PRODUCES ‘BODY FARM’ FILM

Joanna Li Staff Writer

When a friend offhandedly suggested that Brandon Keenan — a 2005 graduate of Pitt’s media communication program — research the strange topic of body farms, he quickly discovered a potential story unfolding before him.

Keenan, 34, has now seen the production of his first feature film, a psychological thriller called “Body Farm,” become a reality more than a decade later — serving as screenwriter, producer and co-director alongside fellow Pitt alum Nick LaMantia, 30. The Pittsburgh community will be able to view the screening of “Body Farm” Jan. 23 at the Oaks Theater in Oakmont.

“We’ve just done baby steps the whole way through all this,” Keenan said. “We’re just going to keep that pace and just keep trying to do all the right things to have this be a successful production.”

Set in a nondescript mountain town in Pennsylvania, the story follows the investigation of a human decomposition research facility, commonly known as a body farm,

by Justyne — a videographer for an independent film company — played by actress Genevieve Weiss. During her investigation, she sends footage remotely to her company revealing discoveries of several gruesome truths. When Justyne’s co-worker and love interest Erik — played by Keenan — realizes where she went, the plot begins to unfold. “[Erik is] a worrywart a little bit, but he also has an angry side to him,” Keenan said.

“He can easily go off the chain sometimes and let his mouth get the best of him.”

The film’s company includes 42 actors, who are almost entirely from the Pittsburgh area — not including Richard Christy, a staff member from The Howard Stern Show often recognized for his cameo in Marvel’s “Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” Behind the scenes, a 45-member crew worked to make sure the cinematography heightens the film’s horror and excitement.

Body Farm was independently funded by

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Pitt alum Brandon Keenan independently funded and produced the psychological thriller film “Body Farm.”

Courtesy of Brandon Keenan Keenan, so he and LaMantia found creative ways to cut expenses — building movie sets in their own basements and filming diner scenes at the local Rivertowne Pour House before they opened up shop for the day.

“We wanted to represent [Pittsburgh] and make a movie for Pittsburgh people, by Pittsburgh people,” LaMantia said. “It kind of hits on the bloody horror genre that is so prevalent around this area. We just really wanted to represent the area with our story.”

Principal photography for “Body Farm” started in spring 2015, when the cast and crew met to shoot and edit 13 minutes of the original script — roughly 13 pages of the 125 pages written. This miniature trial for the film went smoothly, which encouraged Keenan and LaMantia to continue shooting more of the movie, but with a revised script

of about 80 pages instead. Shooting one or two days per month, the crew was able to finish filming by summer 2017.

As one of the most vital members of the crew, Director of Photography Steven Croner — a 28-year-old resident of South Side from Somerset County — relied heavily on the shooting schedule laid out by the directors. Simply put, Croner oversaw how and what the audience will see on screen — though getting the perfect lighting and angle is much more complex than what the viewers in their seats might think.

“If there was a conversation between two characters, we would have to map out how to capture each character and how they’re interacting with each other,” Croner said.

“We wanted to come up with creative ways to incorporate the camera into the conver-

January 16, 2018

sation — to tell a story through the camera motion with how the camera interacts with the characters.”

Since the film was shot in multiple locations throughout the East Coast, Croner recalls having to carry his own equipment around with him as he traveled from New York City to as far as the mountains of North Carolina.

“There was definitely a lot of time spent setting up, taking down and moving around things,” Croner said. “But it was all worth it.”

Croner said one of his favorite places to shoot was the West Virginia State Penitentiary. With his assistants, Croner had freedom to work with the creepy vibe of the space — utilizing the prison cells in unexpected ways to provide the audience with the real-life See Body Farm on page 7

6

Body Farm, pg. 6 sensation of being trapped in a prison cell.

“It was kind of a surreal feeling to be able to shoot in this old prison that had a creepy vibe to it, which definitely fit in with the theme of the film,” Croner said. “We got to do our own thing, like putting up a big cover to drape over the windows and lighting it to make it look real, giving it that horror vibe.”

Though Keenan and LaMantia both own and operate their own film and video production companies — KVT Productions and Nickel 17 Films, respectively — their media careers began at Pitt. Starting as sports director of WPTS radio station and staff writer for The Pitt News, LaMantia has since acted in several feature-length films, such as “Everyone Must Die!” and “All Saints Eve.” He has also directed multiple short films himself — his first being “Self Obscurities.”

Keenan has done some acting work as well, and co-wrote a short film called “Boz” with LaMantia in 2010 — his first experience directing. He described the production of “Body Farm” as a learning process — im-

proving his editing, audio and color correction skills by collaborating with other crew members and doing research online.

According to Keenan, this collaborative spirit, combined with the extended time frame for shooting the film, caused the cast and crew to form close bonds with one another.

“When we yelled ‘cut’ you would never know that we were making a horror film, because we were all laughing and having such a great time,” Keenan said. “It was a surreal experience from beginning to end.”

The cast and crew of “Body Farm” wrapped everything up for the film Jan. 13, 2018 at 4 p.m. With a trailer and behindthe-scenes footage now available, the anticipation for the films premiere Jan. 23 grows throughout the Pittsburgh community.

“It’s definitely a labor of love. We want to share it with our community and show what we are capable of doing and to inspire others to do the same,” Croner said. “This project started with just an idea, and here it is. We’re almost at the premiere ready to show it off to the world.”

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Sports

WOMENʼS BASKETALL

Virgina Tech 89 Pitt 66

MENʼS BASKETBALL

Georgia Tech 69 Pitt 54

GYMNASTICS

Oregon State 194.850 Pitt 194.125

Q&A: Pitt diver Meme Sharp makes history

Dominic Campbell Staff Writer

Finishing up her final season on the Pitt diving team, senior diver Meme Sharp will leave a legacy as one the greatest divers in the program’s history.

Sharp has acquired a number of accolades and set several records during her diving career at Pitt. She currently holds the record in the 3- and 1-meter dives and set the record in the platform dive as a first year. Sharp also finished as a finalist in the 1-meter dive at the ACC Championships in 2015 and 2016 and was an ACC Champion and NCAA All-American in Senior Meme Sharp will graduate as one of the 3-meter dive in 2016. the greatest divers in Pitt’s diving history.

Outside of Pitt, Sharp recently comCourtesy of Pitt Athletics

peted in the 2017 USA Diving Winter National Championships and won the 1-meter National Title. She also qualified for the 2016 Olympic trials to make the USA diving team, competing against the country’s best, though not making the final cut to the official Olympic team.

The Pitt News caught up with Sharp to about her recent successes, how she became a diver and her plans beyond the Trees Hall pool and Pitt.

The Pitt News: How did you get into diving?

Meme Sharp: Well, I started off in swimming, actually, and I was a cheerleader. My middle school team hired a diving coach, but they didn’t have any divers. So the swim coach approached me and asked,

“Hey! I know you’ve got a cheerleading background. Do you want to try out diving?” I ended up liking diving better than swimming, so I stuck with it and started focusing more on it throughout high school.

TPN: When did you start to realize that diving was going to be something you committed a lot of time to?

Sharp: Well, I actually joined my club team, and through club diving you travel all over the country for USA diving meets.

It was just something I really enjoyed. I really liked meeting other divers, and I liked the competition aspect of it. I think when I started with my club team back at home is when I decided it would be something I’d See Q&A on page 9

weekend sports

Panthers flip out, fall flat David Leftwich Senior Staff Writer

While most of Oakland hunkered down because of the winter weather, three teams were in action on campus over the weekend. The track and field squad traveled to an equally snowy State College.

The women’s basketball team earned its first ACC win, and the track and field team secured 22 top-five finishes. Still, the gymnastics team narrowly lost its first competition of the year, while the men’s basketball team lost its fifth straight game in a blowout.

Track and Field Continuing to move through their indoor season, the Panthers had a strong showing on Saturday at the Nittany Lion Challenge.

Highlighting the Panthers’ team performance, senior Andin Fosam won in the

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women’s weight throw and sophomore Jabari Michael-Khensu won the 300m sprint at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.

While this was the first meet for the Panthers in more than three weeks, the team performed well.

On the women’s side, 13 individuals finished in the top five, including the 4x800m and 4x400m relay teams that finished second and fourth, respectively.

Other than the win for Michael-Khensu, there were six Panthers who finished in the top five in individual events on the men’s side — all of them underclassmen. Rounding out the men’s side, the 4x400m relay team finished in fourth.

“Overall, I thought we were pretty competitive coming off of a three-week holiday break,” head coach Alonzo Webb said in a press conference after the meet. “What I was

looking for most were competitive efforts from everyone, and I think we achieved that.”

Working their way to the NCAA indoor track championships in March, the Panther track and field team will travel to Youngstown, Ohio for the YSU College Invitational Friday to continue their indoor season.

Gymnastics Despite posting their program-best score in a season-opener, the Panther gymnastics team fell less than a point short of victory against Oregon State.

Holding a slight lead through the first two events of the meet, the Panthers (0-1 overall) coughed up their edge in the last two events to spoil a great team performance and suffer a 194.850-194.125 loss to Oregon State (1-0 overall) at the Fitzgerald Field House.

See Weekend Sports on page 9

January 16, 2018

Pitt’s best performance emerged on the floor during its 194.850-194.125 loss to Oregon State Saturday night.

Thomas Yang VISUAL EDITOR

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Q&A, pg. 8 like to pursue past high school.

TPN: What was the recruiting process like? How did Pitt recruit you, and did any other schools show interest?

Sharp: Other schools recruited me besides Pitt — LSU, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Harvard and Miami University in Ohio.

Those were the main schools I had visits to, but Pitt was my first visit, and I kind of knew that I wanted to go to Pitt, so I just cancelled my other visits and verbally committed in my senior year of high school.

TPN: What are some of the things that you like about the University of Pittsburgh?

Why did you choose to come here?

Sharp: Well, I’m from a really small town in Indiana. It’s kind of like a farming town, and the only thing to do on the weekends is go to the movies. So I think that’s the most appealing part about Pitt because there’s always something to do. If I’m bored I can usually find something to do in the different areas like Shadyside, South Side and Downtown. I also really like the campus. I like the way that it’s structured compared to the normal college setting because it feels more like a city to me. The academics are also great here so it was a perfect fit.

TPN: What was it like competing at the USA Diving Winter Nationals? How were you able to perform on such a high stage and ultimately win the 1-meter springboard title?

Sharp: It was my last USA diving meet.

I didn’t have any high expectations, I just wanted to have fun and dive well enough that I wouldn’t have any regrets at my last USA diving meet. I had a lot of fun. I was cheering on everybody else, and I was cheering on my teammate, and I was able to relax and just take it dive by dive, and I actually performed really well. I was really happy with my out-

pittnews.com

come.

TPN: How have your coaches here at Pitt, or elsewhere, helped you to perform at such a top level of diving and set?

Sharp: My club coach, Sean McCarthy, really did an amazing job just kind of building a base with me, kind of breaking down my diving and perfecting my basic skills.

Then, when I came to Pitt, I started off with Julian Krug. He had been the coach here for 38 years, he was one of the oldest coaches at Pitt. He was amazing. He helped me mentally become the diver I am today and approach any adversity, competition, and just mentally handle it. My new coach this year, Katie Hazelton, she is just awesome all around in everything. She’s good with the mental aspect of diving and the basics, and she just brings out the best in everyone on the team.

TPN: How do you prepare for meets and do you have any special ritual or tradition that you do to get ready?

Sharp: Right before the diving events, some divers seclude themselves, put headphones in and not talk to anybody. But I actually like going around talking to my teammates, talking to the other team, talking to people in the crowd. I just kind of like to keep my mind busy before I compete. I can’t sit there and focus super hard on the dive. I feel more relaxed when I’m just being myself, I guess.

TPN: How was qualifying for the Olympic trials back in 2016 for the Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympics?

Sharp: That was pretty crazy. It was probably the highest caliber meet that I have competed in next to NCAAs. It was just really cool to watch really good diving and be a part of it and be considered top in the country.

TPN: So do you have any divers that were inspirations to you to become a better diver?

Sharp: She was a senior when I was a freshman in high school. Her name is Katie

Bittner and she never went on to dive in college, but she won state in Indiana. She was always really invested in me and always trying to make me feel special even though I was a freshman and always tried to include me.

She was someone that I really looked up to in high school.

TPN: I see that you are a communication major with a minor in creative writing. What are you looking to do as a job when you stop diving?

Sharp: I’ve applied for a job through the ACC, and I am going to an interview January 30 to be, hopefully, on the event planning committee for the Orange Bowl. So I would like to do some form of event planning and event coordination.

TPN: Are you going to continue to dive or start into the workforce after college?

Sharp: I’m looking just to go ahead and start and hopefully to get the job I’m interviewing for. I love diving, but my dream was to just do it in college and be successful in college. I never had the dream to do anything past that so I achieved my goal.

TPN: How does it feel to know that you’ll go down as the greatest women’s diver in the history of Pitt diving?

Sharp: It’s an honor, really. I’m just happy I was able to do that representing Pitt. I was able to do that with an amazing group of teammates and my coach Julian, and now I’m coached by another awesome coach, Katie.

It was really the help of all of them that got me to this point, and it’s just an honor to have met so many great people.

TPN: What do you want to accomplish as you finish your career in diving here at Pitt?

Sharp: I’m just looking to enjoy myself the last few meets. I’ve got my senior meet coming up and everybody dreams of that all throughout college, ACC’s and NCAAs. I just want to be able to know that I did the best I could and look back and have no regrets.

January 16,2018

Weekend Sports, pg. 8 First year Haley Brechwald led the way for the Panthers in vault — the first event of the night — winning the event and posting a score of 9.825. After the first rotation, the Panthers held a 48.725-48.700 lead.

Holding onto their slight lead, each of the five Panthers scored a 9.650 or above on bars to move the score to 97.350-97.225 in favor of the Panthers.

The Beavers took control of the match in the third rotation on Beam.

Senior Dani Dessaints won the event with a score of 9.850, and sophomore Sabrina Gill finished in second overall with a score of 9.800 to lead the Beavers.

The best Panther performance came from sophomore Deven Herbine, with a score of 9.750 — the Panthers couldn’t keep up. The Beavers captured a 146.175-145.175 lead through three events with only the floor portion remaining.

In their best team performance of any section, the Panthers racked up a score of 48.950 on floor — an average of 9.79 per person. Still, the Beavers kept pace.

Despite winning the floor event 48.95048.675, the Panthers didn’t gain enough ground to earn a match win. The Panthers ended up losing the match 194.850-194.125.

The team should have confidence moving forward after breaking the program record for points in a meet. As an added bonus, Brechwald looks to be an immediate contributor, tying for the all-around title in her first-ever meet.

The gymnastics team will be back in action next Saturday at the Fitzgerald Field House as they take on New Hampshire.

Find the full story online at

pittnews.com

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January 16, 2018

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