Final Day Push Gives Tartans Second Place at UAA Championships

Final Day Push Gives Tartans Second Place at UAA Championships

(CHICAGO, Ill.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's swimming and diving team had a huge final day at the University Athletic Association Championships which pushed them to second place after entering the day in fourth. Sophomore Anton Razanav (San Diego, Calif./Westview) and junior Edward Sears (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River) brought home individual championships while the 1,650-yard freestyle had four finish in the top 10.

The Tartans began the final day 36.5 points out of second place and made up all the ground after the first event, the 1,650-yard freestyle where four athletes finished in the top 10. Freshman Christopher Wysocki (Rockville, Md./Winston Churchill) led the way with a fifth-place finish in a time of 16:18.69 as sophomore Andrew Yee (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista) finished seventh in 16:25.22 with freshman Joseph Robinson (Maryville, Tenn./Maryville) taking eighth in 16:29.09 and freshman Martin Smith (Washington, D.C./The Bolles School) taking ninth in 16:29.74.

Razanav repeated as the 200-yard backstroke champion with a career-best time of 1:50.20. The time also provisionally qualified him for the NCAA Championships in March. Smith tallied a sixth-place finish in the event with a time of 1:54.63 as sophomore Michael Kellman (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) was seventh in 1:54.66. In the B-final, freshman Steven Geier (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) was second in 1:55.25 as freshman Jay Jin (Canton, Mich./Canton) was fourth in 1:55.97. Sophomore Josh Lucheon (Knoxville, Tenn./Knoxville Catholic) reached the C-final with a preliminary time of 2:01.44 and finished sixth in 2:03.62.

Sears brought in the second UAA championship of the evening in the 100-yard freestyle with a provisionally qualifying time of 45.82. Freshman Lucas Bruder (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette) also made the championship final of the 100-yard freestyle and touched fifth in 46.23.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, freshman Philip Farr (Campbell, Calif./Bellarmine College) was second in the B-final in 2:07.03 with sophomore Roy Sung (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) touching third in 2:07.36. Freshman Matthew Nielsen (Ashburn, Va./Briar Woods) was sixth in the same heat in 2:10.22.

Three other Tartans swam in the C-final of the 200-yard breaststroke as junior Austin Bohn (Annville, Pa./Annville-Cleona) touched second in 2:10.39, freshman Matthew Dezenzo (Woodbridge, N.J./St. Joseph) seventh in 2:11.32 and sophomore Cole Um (Federal Way, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) eighth in 2:12.18.

Freshman Adam Pinson (Gold River, Calif./Sacramento Day) won the B-final of the 200-yard butterfly in 1:53.54 with sophomore David Campbell (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) finishing sixth in 1:54.37 and senior Brandon Yee (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista) touching seventh in 1:55.22. Freshman Justin Chen (Irvine, Calif./University) finished the C-final in sixth place, touching in 2:00.54.

For the team's efforts, head coach Matt Kinney with assistant coaches Kellie Ayres, Miki Silver and Alicia Gorman were named Coaching Staff of the Year.