200 Free Relay Sets School Record at UAA Championships

(ATLANTA, Ga.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team began the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships on Thursday, February 12 at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, with the 200-yard freestyle relay setting a new school record.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of freshman Emma Shi (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield), sophomore Allison Kirkby (West Chester, Pa./Conestoga), sophomore Gillian Crews (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) and freshman Tiana Marrese (Pittsburgh, Pa./South Fayette) touched the wall in 1:36.91 to break the school record set last year at the UAA meet. The group finished sixth in the event.

Shi hit last year's NCAA invited time in the 200-yard IM on her way to a third-place finish, earning All-UAA honors, in a time of 2:06.32, while provisionally qualifying for this year's national meet.

Sophomore Machika Kaku (Irvine, Calif./University), who has already qualified for the regional diving meet, placed third on the three-meter board with 385.90 points in the finals.

Freshman Miranda Ford (Skillman, N.J./Montgomery) collected a career-best time of 5:06.65 in the 500-yard freestyle finishing 21st, while four Tartans swam in the finals of the 50-yard freestyle. Kirkby led the team with a 17th-place finish in 24.44.

The 400-yard medley relay team of junior Kira Singhaus (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West), freshman Kimberly Hochstedler (Mishawaka, Ind./Penn), Crews and Kirkby closed the night with a fourth-place finish in 3:50.19. The time is a provisional mark for this year and is better than last year's invited time.

Competition continues on Friday, February 13 with preliminaries at 10:00 a.m. and finals at 5:30 p.m.