Hochstedler UAA Champion in Breaststroke; Tartans Finish Third at UAA Championships

(ATLANTA, Ga.) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team improved two places on the final day of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships to finish third with 1,213.5 points, three points ahead of the University of Chicago, while Emory University won the meet with 2,049 points.

Senior Kim Hochstedler (Mishawaka, Ind. / Penn) swam to the UAA Championship in the 200-yard breaststroke when she touched the final wall in 2:18.58. With the victory, Hochstedler became the first Tartan individual to win a UAA Championship since Breanna Stillo won the 100-yard breaststroke in 2012. Also swimming in the championship final of the 200-yard breaststroke was junior Cassidy Smith (Carlisle, Mass. / Concord-Carlisle Regional) who finished fifth in 2:20.94.

Freshman Jessica Li (Clarksville, Md. / River Hill) earned All-UAA status with a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly. Her time of 2:03.69 set a new school record while sophomore Emma Nicklas-Morris (Winston-Salem, N.C. / RJ Reynolds) recorded a career-best time in the event when she placed fifth in 2:03.97. Senior Mary St. John (Bethesda, Md. / Sidwell Friends School) also swam a career-best time in the 200-yard butterfly when she touched sixth in 2:04.20.

The Tartans were deep in the 200-yard butterfly as three others earned points by finishing 17th, 21st, and 22nd.

Sophomore Taylor Brown (San Antonio, Texas / Johnson) led the Tartans in the 1,650-yard freestyle in a career-best time of 17:26.91 to place seventh. Freshman Stefanie McMillan (Vancouver, Wash. / Skyview) was 11th overall in 17:57.07 while senior Miranda Ford (Skillman, N.J. / Montgomery) touched 13th in 18:09.85.

Two Tartans swam in the championship final of the 200-yard backstroke with freshman Jessica Chau (Ridgewood, N.J. / Ridgewood) touching fourth in 2:03.00 and sophomore Mary Day (Warren, N.J. / Mount Saint Mary Academy) eighth in 2:05.91.

The Tartans closed the meet with a fifth-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay and earned the program's fourth relay school record of the meet when Smith, freshman Emma Graham (Mount Lebanon, Pa. / Mount Lebanon), freshman Megan Christy (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Allegheny), and sophomore Anna Riegger (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) touched in 3:29.41.

The Tartans will next compete at the Kenyon College Last Chance Meet on Saturday, February 24 before bids for the NCAA Championships are released.