Tartans Open Spring Semester with Double Dual Split

(NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team opened the spring semester with a double dual meet split against SUNY Geneseo and Westminster College on Saturday, January 18. The meet was hosted by Westminster as the Tartans dropped their first dual meet of the season to Geneseo, 153-147, and defeated Westminster 219-75.

The Tartans won six events for the meet and came in second in another nine events. Freshman diver Machika Kaku (Irvine, Calif./University) took second on both boards, finishing the 1-meter with 281.90 points and the 3-meter with 244.25 points, both season highs.

The relay team of sophomore Kira Singhaus (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West), freshman Felicia Wang (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley), freshman Gillian Crews (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) and freshman Lauren Zemering (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley with a time of 1:52.96.

Singhaus went on to win the 100-yard backstroke in 1:01.58 while Wang won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10.39 and finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:32.84. Freshman Natalie Kronfli (Potomac, Md./Stone Ridge) picked up two third-place finishes in the breaststroke events with times of 1:10.56 and 2:35.04.

Freshman Kimberly Klausing (North Potomac, Md./Thomas Wootton) won the 1,000-yard freestyle, touching in a season-best 10:50.64 and picked up two third-place finishes for the day. Her third-place finishes came in the 500-yard freestyle (5:20.83) and the 400-yard IM where she also recorded a season-high of 4:49.21.

The 400-yard IM was won by senior Soleil Phan (Irvine, Calif./Beckman) in 4:38.28. Phan also collected two second-place tallies in the freestyle events, touching second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:56.60 and in the 100-yard freestyle in a season-best 54.56. Zemering picked up points for the Tartans in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing third behind Phan in 2:01.39.

Senior Megan Garvey (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) earned second place in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:14.30 with freshman Deniesse Vankat (San Diego, Calif./Westview) touching third in 2:15.50. Garvey also took second in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:18.74 with Vankat earning third place in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.85 behind Crews's first-place finish in 59.84.

Sophomore Elissa Maercklein (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay) swam to a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.50 with freshman Allison Kirkby (West Chester, Pa./Conestoga) touching third in 25.64.

As the meet came to a close, the Tartans' second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay kept them from sweeping the meet. The Tartans' team of Maercklein, Kirkby, freshman Amanda Kuhn (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) and Zemering touched just after the team from Geneseo in 1:39.48.

The Tartans will return home for their senior meet against Denison University on Saturday, January 25 at 1:00 p.m.