Two More Wins Come at Westminster for Tartan Women

(NEW WILMINGTON, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team competed in its first meet of the semester and defeated Westminster College, 229-70, and SUNY Geneseo, 192-107, at Westminster on Saturday, January 16. The Tartans improve to 9-0 in dual meets for the season.

The 200-yard medley relay started the meet with a victory as senior Kira Singhaus (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West), senior Felicia Wang (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley), junior Gillian Crews (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) and junior Allison Kirkby (West Chester, Pa./Conestoga) finished the event in 1:51.07.

Sophomore Kimberly Hochstedler (Mishawaka, Ind./Penn) was a double winner on the day with victories in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:09.51 and 200-yard breaststroke in 2:31.92. Junior Natalie Kronfli (Potomac, Md./Stone Ridge) touched second in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10.38, while freshman Cassidy Smith (Carlisle, Mass./Concord-Carlisle Regional) was second in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:32.37.

The Tartans were tops in both butterfly events when sophomore Mary St. John (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) touched first in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:12.18 and Crews placed first in the 100-yard butterfly in 58.73.

The 50-yard freestyle was won by sophomore Tiana Marrese (Pittsburgh, Pa./South Fayette) in 25.46 as Kirkby touched first in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.35. Senior Paige Sieffert (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) ruled the waters in the 200-yard backstroke, touching first in 2:12.23.

Another first-place finish came in the 200-yard IM when sophomore Emma Shi (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) touched the wall in 2:14.39.

Shi also paced the Tartans in the 200-yard freestyle when she touched second in 2:00.28. Kirkby was just behind her in third with a time of 2:01.39.

Singhaus picked up a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:01.17 while Sieffert placed third in 1:01.59.

In diving, junior Machika Kaku (Irvine, Calif./University) won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. She tallied 245.20 points on the 1-meter and 261.40 on the 3-meter. Senior Winona Li (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) placed second on the 1-meter with 234.10 points and repeated the finish on the 3-meter with 248.45 points. All scores were season bests after six dives.

The Tartans will return to competition on Saturday, January 23 at Denison University at 1:00 p.m.