Tartan Men Open Season with Dual Win at Case Western Reserve

(CLEVELAND, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's swimming and diving team opened the season with a dual meet at Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, October 25. The Tartans defeated the Spartans by a score of 187-105, winning 11 events.

The Tartans opened with a dominating win in the 200-yard medley relay, winning by nearly two seconds as senior Josh Lucheon (Knoxville, Tenn./Knoxville Catholic), freshman Matthew Chu (Warren, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep), sophomore Sivan Mehta (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) and freshman Kevin Steinhouse (St. Louis, Mo./John Burroughs School) touched in 1:36.41.

The 1,000-yard freestyle followed and saw freshman Josh Taekman (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) touch first in 9:56.08, just under 10 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Freshman Alex Glidden (Peabody, Mass./St. John's Prep) was third in the event with a time of 10:09.19.

In the 200-yard freestyle, senior Andrew Yee (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista) led the Tartans with a first-place finish in 1:45.50 with junior Steven Geier (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) just behind in 1:45.61. Next came the 100-yard backstroke which Mehta won in 53.30.

Chu won his first individual race when he touched first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 59.29 ahead of senior Roy Sung (Wayland, Mass./Wayland) in 1:00.99 and junior Peter Podniesinski (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) in 1:01.24.

Sophomore Brian Walsh (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) opened the year with a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly in 1:55.03 while senior David Campbell (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) touched third in 1:57.75.

The 50-yard freestyle was the first event Case Western won but the Tartans finished two-three with Steinhouse ahead of junior Joey Robinson (Maryville, Tenn./Maryville) with a times of 21.98 and 22.72, respectively. Steinhouse was .04 off the winning time.

Mehta recorded his second victory of the day in the 100-yard freestyle as he touched in 47.97. Steinhouse was second in the event with a time of 48.57.

The Tartans swept the 200-yard backstroke like the 100-yard breaststroke with junior Jay Jin (Canton, Mich./Canton) touching first in 1:57.72. Taekman was second in 1:58.21 and freshman Michael DiBacco (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia) was third in 1:58.40.

Another win followed for the Tartans as Sung was victorious in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.07. Yee then won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:48.34 and Mehta the 100-yard butterfly in 51.50.

The 400-yard IM was the last individual race of the day and the Tartans placed second as junior Matthew Nielsen (Ashburn, Va./Briar Woods) touched in 4:12.75.

In diving, junior Yannos Michailidis (Athens, Greece/Hellenic American) finished second on the 1-meter board with 151.70 points and second on the 3-meter board with 139.65 points. Freshman Noah Fatsi (Midlothian, Va./Trinity Episcopal) was third on both boards with 124.00 points and 115.80 points.

The Tartans will next swim at home on Saturday, November 1 against Clarion University at 11:00 a.m.