Tartans Take Fourth Place at UAA Championships

(CHICAGO, Ill.) - The Carnegie Mellon University women's swimming and diving team finished competition at the University Athletic Association Championships with a fourth-place showing on Saturday, February 16. Multiple swimmers reached the championship finals of Saturday's event with at least one Tartan finishing in the top eight in each event.

Sophomore Kaeli Halbersleben (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) finished seventh in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 17:38.62 to open the final day.

In the 200-yard backstroke, freshmen Paige Sieffert (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) and Corrine Bacigal (Campbell Hall, N.Y./Washingtonville) finished seventh and eighth respectively with times of 2:07.69 and 2:09.32. Freshman Kira Singhaus (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) won the B-final with a provisional qualifying mark of 2:05.38 as sophomore Kelley Sheehan (Poway, Calif./Poway) was fourth in 2:08.60 and sophomore Nicole Crimi (Eureka, Mo./Visitation Academy) was eighth in 2:10.77. Also earning points for the Tartans in the 200-yard backstroke was freshmen Alexandra Mod (New Orleans, La./Isidore Newman) and Kristi Wong (Scarsdale, N.Y./Edgemont) with ties of 2:11.57 and 2:11.97 for second and third place in the C-final.

Senior Breanna Stillo (West Caldwell, N.J./James Caldwell) touched the wall in 53.16 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle to take eighth place overall. Elissa Maercklein (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay) was first in the C-final in 54.71 while freshman Hannah Hoffert (Midlothian, Va./James River) was second in 54.96.

Senior Price Kinney (Greenville, S.C./J.L. Mann Academy) placed sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:24.59 as junior Vivian Wong (Saratoga, Calif./The Harker School) was eighth in 2:27.87. Freshman Felicia Wang (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley) touched second in the B-final in 2:28.26 with junior Tatiana Duchak (Centreville, Va./Mercersburg Academy) taking sixth place in 2:29.93. In the C-final, freshman Julia Atwood (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) was third in 2:32.99 and freshman Janay Parrish (Henryville, Pa./Pocono Mountain East) was fourth in 2:35.65.

Juniors Megan Garvey (West Chester, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) and Soleil Phan (Irvine, Calif./Beckman) topped last season's NCAA selection time in the 200-yard butterfly touching fifth in 2:05.84 and sixth in 2:06.06, respectively. Sophomore Wendy Liu (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) won the C-final in 2:11.06 as Sieffert was eighth in 2:19.68 after swimming a preliminary time of 2:17.79.

Freshmen Andie Azofeifa (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County) and Amanda Savidge (Gettysburg, Pa./Bermudian Springs) finished their seasons on the one-meter board tallying 304.70 and 205.45 points, respectively in the preliminaries. Azofeifa's totaled was 10th best.

The 400-yard freestyle relay closed the meet with a fourth-place finish as Phan, Sheehan, Maercklein and Stillo touched in 3:33.22.