Ten Swimmers to Compete at NCAA Championships
Posted: Mar 01, 2018

Ten Swimmers to Compete at NCAA Championships

(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) – Ten members of the Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team will compete at the 2018 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. The championships will be hosted by the Indiana Sports Corporation and Franklin College in Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 21-24.

Seniors Kim Hochstedler (Mishawaka, Ind. / Penn) and Mary St. John (Bethesda, Md. / Sidwell Friends School) will be making their third appearance at the NCAA Championships with sophomore Emma Nicklas-Morris (Winston-Salem, N.C. / RJ Reynolds) returning to the championship meet for the second time. The four veterans will be joined by senior Emma Shi (Penfield, N.Y. / Penfield), junior Cassidy Smith (Carlisle, Mass. / Concord-Carlisle Regional), sophomores Mary Day (Warren, N.J. / Mount Saint Mary Academy) and Teagan Goforth (Portland, Ore. / Tualatin), and freshmen Jessica Chau (Ridgewood, N.J. / Ridgewood), Megan Christy (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Allegheny), and Jessica Li (Clarksville, Md. / River Hill).

Three relays made the cut in the 400-yard medley relay, and 400-yard and 800-yard freestyle relays. The 400-yard medley relay of Day, Hochstedler, St. John, and Nicklas-Morris set the school record at the UAA Championships. Day and Nicklas-Morris will also swim the 400-yard freestyle relay with Li and Shi, while the 800-yard freestyle relay will be swum by Christy, Li, Nicklas-Morris, and Shi.

Hochstedler, who earned All-America Honorable Mention recognition as a freshman on the 400-yard medley relay, has also been invited to the championships to swim the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststrokes. She is currently eighth in the 200-yard event and 10th in the 100-yard event.

St. John earned placement to her third championships in the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard IM. Last year, St. John earned All-America Honorable Mention recognition in the 200-yard butterfly for placing 15th. Her time in both events is currently 18th in the nation.

Nicklas-Morris placed in the top eight twice at the NCAA Championships her rookie year with a fifth-place showing in the 400-yard IM and an eighth-place showing in the 200-yard IM. Along with the three relays listed above, Nicklas-Morris made the cut in the 400-yard IM and 200-yard butterfly, which she is 11th and 13th in the nation in, respectively.

Smith met the selection standards in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke while Shi hit the mark in the 200-yard IM and Goforth in the 400-yard IM. Chau, Day, and Li were also invited in one individual event and will swim the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard backstroke, and 200-yard butterfly, respectively. Chau's time in the backstroke is 14th in the nation while Li's time in the butterfly is currently 10th in the nation.

The women took three swimmers and a diver to the championships last year and finished 23rd at the meet. The ten invited swimmers this year are the most under head coach Matthew Kinney who has taken at least one woman athlete to the NCAA meet in nine of his 11 years at Carnegie Mellon. The diving regionals take place this weekend at Ithaca College with the chance for two Tartan divers to add to the team's national competitors.