Garvey Sets School Record as Tartans Open UAA Championships
(ATLANTA, Ga.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team traveled to Atlanta, Ga., on Friday, February 14 for the University Athletic Association (UAA) Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by Emory University. As inclement weather hit the Atlanta area, three competing teams were unable to make it in, thus requiring a satellite meet that is being hosted by Case Western Reserve University. Final results to determine champions will be compiled late Sunday evening or Monday morning.
The other schools which were able to travel to Emory include Brandeis University, New York University and Washington University as University of Chicago and University of Rochester will be swimming at Case Western Reserve.
Senior Megan Garvey (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) set the school record in the 200-yard butterfly and could be a potential UAA Champion with confirmation coming Saturday night as she touched first in 2:04.28 to lead the Tartans.
Two relays also set school records for the Tartans as the 400-yard medley relay team of sophomore Kira Singhaus (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West), sophomore Felicia Wang (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley), freshman Gillian Crews (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) and senior Soleil Phan (Irvine, Calif./Beckman) finished second in the morning session in a time of 3:50.39. Then the 200-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Elissa Maercklein (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay), freshman Amanda Kuhn (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman), Crews and freshman Lauren Zemering (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) started the evening session with a school record time of 1:36.99.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Phan and freshman Kimberly Klausing (North Potomac, Md./Thomas Wootton) both set season-highs as Phan finished the championship heat in 4:59.66 and Klausing the consolation final in 5:08.36. Phan later finished the 100-yard freestyle in 52.68 to lead the Tartans.
Wang swam a season-best time of 1:05.42 in the finals of the 100-yard breaststroke while freshman Natalie Kronfli (Potomac, Md./Stone Ridge) finished the same event in a season-best time of 1:07.03.
Singhaus reached the finals of the 200-yard backstroke, touching in 2:04.84, as sophomore Corrine Bacigal (Campbell Hall, N.Y./Washingtonville) also made the finals and finished in a season-best 2:06.66.
The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Phan, Garvey, Zemering and junior Kelley Sheehan (Poway, Calif./Poway) closed the first night with a third-place finish, touching in 7:43.17.
In diving, freshman Machika Kaku (Irvine, Calif./University) led the Tartans on the 1-meter board with 382.25 points to finish fifth. Junior Andie Azofeifa (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County) finished seventh with 344.45 points and sophomore Winona Li (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) was eighth with 336.95 points.
The team will continue action on Saturday with prelims starting at 9:00 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m.