Crews Sets School Record to Lead Tartans at Kenyon
Posted: Dec 07, 2013

Crews Sets School Record to Lead Tartans at Kenyon

(GAMBIER, OHIO) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team completed the Total Performance Invitational at Kenyon College on Saturday, December 7 with a fifth-place finish amongst schools like the University of Pennsylvania, Davidson College, Johns Hopkins University, Grove City College, and DePauw University.

The 100-yard butterfly saw two reach provisionally qualifying times as freshman Gillian Crews (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) finished sixth overall in 56.72 but qualified for the finals in school record time of 56.21. Freshman Deniesse Vankat (San Diego, Calif./Westview) finished fourth in the consolation final in 57.44 to also provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships. Garvey finished the 100-yard butterfly in 58.14 and sophomore Shieri Suzuka (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) swam it in 58.57, both recording season-best times.

Senior Soleil Phan (Irvine, Calif./Beckman) recorded a career-best 5:03.19 in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing second in the consolation final while fellow senior Megan Garvey (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) was fifth in the bonus final in a season-best time of 5:08.65.

Sophomore Kira Singhaus (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships when she placed sixth in the 200-yard backstroke with a career-best time of 2:04.69. Junior Kelley Sheehan (Poway, Calif./Poway) swam a season-best time of 2:07.99 to place fourth in the consolation final as sophomore Corrine Bacigal (Campbell Hall, N.Y./Washingtonville) reached the consolation final with a season-best time of 2:09.31. Three other swimmers swam under 2:10.00 in the 200-yard backstroke as freshman Marisa Giglio (Cranbury, N.J./Princeton) had a top time of 2:07.92 to win the bonus final, junior Nicole Crimi (Eureka, Mo./Visitation Academy) swam a career-best time of 2:07.95 and sophomore Paige Sieffert (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) swam a season-best time of 2:09.75.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, freshman Natalie Kronfli (Potomac, Md./Stone Ridge) swam a season-best 2:29.99 in the consolation final while sophomore Julia Atwood (), sophomore Janay Parrish (Henryville, Pa./Pocono Mountain East) and Bacigal all swam in the bonus final. Atwood swam a season-best 2:33.89, Parrish a season-best 2:37.86 and Bacigal a career-best 2:35.44.

Freshman Allison Kirkby (West Chester, Pa./Conestoga) made the bonus final of the 100-yard freestyle and recorded a season-best 53.04 to place third. Phan picked up a season-best time in the 200-yard IM, placing fourth in the consolation final in 2:10.19 while Sheehan was eighth in a season-best 2:11.49. Crimi also swam in the bonus final of the 200-yard IM, finishing fifth in a season-best time of 2:12.42.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Singhaus, Kronfli, Crews and Kirkby recorded a top time of 1:48.01 to place ninth while the 400-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Elissa Maercklein (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay), Kirkby, Suzuka and Phan placed eighth with a season-best time of 3:32.82.

The divers also competed on Saturday as freshman Machika Kaku (Irvine, Calif./University) won the 3-meter event with 438.00 points but tallied a season-best 464.63 in the preliminaries. Freshman Tammy Luk (Little Neck, N.Y./Townsend Harris) was third on the board with 336.82 points as freshman Mallory Evanoff (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque Academy) was fourth with 335.18 points.

The team will be back in action after the holiday break when they travel to Westminster College to take on SUNY Geneseo and the Titans at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 18.