Stillo Sets School Record at Kenyon's Top Performance Meet

(GAMBIER, Ohio) – The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming team traveled to Gambier, Ohio, for the Top Performance Meet hosted by Kenyon College from Thursday, December 1 through Saturday, December 3. The team finished sixth overall behind University of Pennsylvania, Kenyon, Bowling Green State University, Davidson College and Grove City College.

Several swimmrers made the finals events for the evening session with two reaching the championship finals and three winning the consolation finals.

Junior Breanna Stillo (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) had the top finish of the meet for the Tartans as she set a new school record in the preliminaries of the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.96. The time also provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Championships in March as she finished seventh in the evening's championship heat. Stillo's other individual performance consisted of a 16th place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in 24.66 as she qualified for the consolation final with a time of 24.46.

Junior Price Kinney (Greenville, S.C./J.L. Mann Academy) also made a championship final during the meet when she reached the finals with a season-best time of 2:25.57 in the 200-yard breaststroke. She finished eighth in the finals with a time of 2:26.59. She also swam in the consolation final of the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing seventh with a time of 1:08.39, reaching the finals with a time of 1:07.53.

Sophomore Soleil Phan (Irvine, Calif./Beckman) won the consolation finals of the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:53.94, finished third in the consolation finals of the 100-yard butterfly in 57.56 and was 21st overall in the 50-yard freestyle in 24.04.

Sophomore Tatiana Duchak (Centreville, Va./Mercersburg Academy) had a career-best swim in the 100-yard breaststroke when she won the consolation final in 1:06.91. She also swam in the evening session of the 200-yard breaststroke, finishing in 15th overall in 2:31.59.

Sophomore Megan Garvey (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) had a career finish in the 200-yard butterfly when she won the consolation final in 2:06.57. She later swam in the bonus final of the 100-yard butterfly, recording a season-best time of 58.80.

Freshman Kelly Sheehan (Poway, Calif.) swam in four events during the evening sessions, placing 11th in the 100-yard backstroke (59.07), 12th in the 200-yard backstroke (2:07.54), 15th in the 200-yard IM (2:12.60) and 20th in the 50-yard freestyle (24.83). She reached the finals of the 200-yard IM with a best time of 2:10.77.

Freshman Kaeli Halbersleben (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) had two 11th-place finishes, both coming in the distance freestyles. Her time of 17:34.70 in the 1,650-yard freestyle is a career best as she also knocked seconds off her previous career best in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing in 5:06.66. Senior Victoria Adams (Rutherford, N.J.) finished 13th in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 17:49.28.

Freshman Debra Lin (Saratoga, Calif.) had a 12th-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke in 59.68 and a 20th-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:10.28. Senior Hannah Gonzalez (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) finished 17th in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:09.48 and 22nd in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.20, reaching the finals session with a time of 59.79.

Freshman Wendy Liu (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) reached the bonus final of the 400-yard IM and finished third in the heat with a time of 4:38.28 while senior Samantha Miner (Jefferson, Md./Middletown) was 22nd overall in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:40.59 and senior Jen Sung (Wayland, Mass.) was 23rd in 2:45.89.

In the relays, the team set four season-best times. The 800-yard freestyle relay finished 10th as Sheehan, Garvey, Phan and Adams touched in 7:45.51. The 200-yard freestyle relay of Stillo, Sheehan, Phan and Gonzalez touched eighth in 1:38.82 as Sheehan, Stillo, Garvey and Phan finished eighth in the 400-yard medley relay in 3:57.92. Phan Stillo, Sheehan and Gonzalez later touched ninth in the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:35.62.

The team will be off from competition until the start of next semester when they travel to Westminster College for a meet at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 21.