Nicklas-Morris and Smith Set School Records on Second Day of UAA Championships

(CHICAGO, Ill.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team remain in fifth place at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships hosted by the University of Chicago. Emory University continues to hold the top spot with New York University sitting second.

The 200-yard medley relay finished fifth in a time of 1:46.61 to start the evening. Freshman Mary Day (Warren, N.J./Mount Saint Mary Academy), junior Kim Hochstedler (Mishawaka, Ind./Penn), senior Gillian Crews (Fairfax, Va./Oakton) and senior Allison Kirkby (West Chester, Pa./Conestoga) touched the wall in a season-best time.

Freshman Emma Nicklas-Morris (Winston-Salem, N.C./RJ Reynolds) had the best finish of the night for the Tartans when she touched second in the 400-yard IM in a career-best, school record and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:25.31. Junior Mary St. John (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) touched fifth in the event in 4:29.29 to also meet a qualifying time and recorded a career-best time during the preliminaries when she finished in 4:28.82.

The 400-yard IM proved to be a big event for the Tartans as freshman Teagan Goforth (Portland, Ore./Tualatin) and junior Emma Shi (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) each touched in 4:33.45 to win the B-final. Junior Miranda Ford (Skillman, N.J./Montgomery) finished second in the C-final in 4:40.64 with junior Sarah Winget (Shelburne, Vt./Champlain Valley Union) touching third in the same final in 4:40.91.

Hochstedler just missed an All-UAA performance in the 100-yard breaststroke when she finished fourth in a provisional qualifying time of 1:04.79. Sophomore Cassidy Smith (Carlisle, Mass./Concord-Carlisle Regional) also swam in the finals of the 100-yard breaststroke, touching sixth in 1:05.35 after recording a career-best time and of 1:04.63 in the preliminaries. Smith's preliminary time also set a new school record. Sophomore Hera Miao (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard South) and freshman Victoria Feng (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) made the B-final finishing 11th and 16th overall, respectively.

Crews had the best finish for the Tartans in the 100-yard butterfly when she finished 12th overall in 58.19. Senior Shieri Suzuka (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) was 15th in the same event, touching in 58.53.

Day and Goforth each swam in the B-final of the 100-yard backstroke finishing 11th and 16th, respectively, in times of 58.28 and 1:00.44.

The 800-yard freestyle relay closed the evening by finishing fifth behind the swims of Nicklas-Morris, St. John, Kirkby and Shi. The quad touched in 7:40.67.

The final night of competition will be Saturday, February 11 starting at 6:30 p.m. CT.