Sports Briefs

Men’s Swimming and Diving

The Carnegie Mellon men’s swimming and diving team competed in the three-day Total Performance Invitational at Kenyon College against Division I Ohio State University and Davidson College, Division II Ashland University, and fellow Division III members Grove City College and Susquehanna University from Thursday, Nov. 30 through Saturday, Dec. 2. The Tartans placed second with 1,687 points while Kenyon won the meet with 2,882.50 points.

On Thursday, the 200-yard medley relay team of first-year Justin Britton, senior Matthew Chu, first-year Max Gonzalez, and sophomore Richard Deng opened the meet with a third-place showing after completing the event in 1:30.98. The time was .34 seconds off the school record set at the 2015 NCAA Championships but did provisionally qualify the group for the 2018 NCAA Championships.

First-year Andrew Joyner swam the 1,650-yard freestyle for the first time as a Tartan and finished fifth overall with a time of 16:06.92. The time was nearly 10 seconds better than the provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Championships. Fellow first-year Thomas DeLauro also swam the long distance event and finished eighth in 16:22.25.

The opening evening closed with the 800-yard freestyle relay. Deng, Gonzalez, sophomore Rip Lyster, and sophomore Sam Hawke placed seventh after completing the relay in 6:48.20.

On Friday, the Tartans achieved numerous season-best times, with Gonzalez recording an NCAA provisional qualifying time.

The 200-yard freestyle relay set a season-best time when Britton, Gonzalez, Deng, and Hawke placed fourth in 1:23.54.

Lyster placed sixth in the 200-yard butterfly in a season-best time of 1:53.03. Fellow sophomore Alex Rastelli also swam in the finals of the 200-yard butterfly and placed ninth in a season-best time of 1:53.67.

Gonzalez touched sixth in the 200-yard freestyle in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:40.29 and did even better in the preliminaries with a time of 1:40.17.

Junior Winston Chu was just shy of the school record in the 100-yard breaststroke when he finished second in 55.96. Matthew Chu finished seventh in the event in 56.63. Both times are season-best times.

Britton picked up a season-best time in the 100-yard backstroke during the preliminaries. His time of 50.21 got him to the top final where he placed seventh in 50.68 during the evening swim. Deng recorded a career-best time in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.13 and touched 12th overall in 21.17 in the finals.

The 400-yard medley relay team of Britton, Winston Chu, Gonzalez, and Hawke closed the meet with a sixth-place finish in 3:23.31.

Junior Gabe Bamforth finished first on the 1-meter diving board with a season-best score of 489.85 points. Senior DeShawn Green recorded a season-best score of 365.85 during the preliminaries and placed fourth in the finals with a score of 345.25.

On Saturday, Bamforth nearly set a new school record on the 3-meter diving board with 542.80 points. He was 4.7 points off his own school-record mark of 547.50 which was set last year at the Total Performance Invitational.

Sophomore Daniel Li placed 13th in the 500-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 4:42.38 with Joyner touching two places behind him in 4:43.79.

First-year Jeremy Tinucci was seventh in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:53.79 while Gonzalez placed 12th in the 100-yard butterfly in a season-best time of 51.22. First-year James Kirkby earned his top time in the 100-yard butterfly in 51.29 during the preliminaries and placed 14th in the finals (51.78) after being out-touched by Hawke in 51.44.

Winston Chu earned a 10th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a season-best time of 2:06.72. Sophomore Connor Clayton was 13th in the event in a season-best 2:09.10.

Hawke had his best showing of the year in the 100-yard freestyle preliminaries, touching in 46.50. He later placed ninth in the finals in 46.97. Britton touched in 47.32 in the finals to place 10th but had a season-best time of 46.42 in the preliminaries.

Three Tartans swam in the top final of the 200-yard IM with Gonzalez finishing sixth in 1:54.12. Sophomore Rip Lyster was eighth in 1:55.28 and first-year Brandon Li was 10th in 1:56.93. Both Lyster and Li recorded season-best times during preliminaries with marks of 1:54.33 and 1:54.69, respectively.

The 400-yard freestyle relay of Britton, Gonzalez, Deng, and Hawke finished sixth in a season-best time of 3:05.84.

The Tartans will take a break from competition due to winter break until Jan. 13 when they travel to Westminster College for a 12:00 p.m. meet.

Women’s Swimming and Diving

The Carnegie Mellon women’s swimming and diving team competed in the three-day Total Performance Invitational at Kenyon College against Division I Ohio State University and Davidson College, Division II Ashland University, and fellow Division III members Grove City College and Susquehanna University from Thursday, Nov. 30 to Saturday, Dec. 2. The Tartans placed second with 1,593 points while Kenyon won the meet with 2,797 points.

On Thursday, the 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Mary Day, senior Kim Hochstedler, first-year Jessica Li, and sophomore Victoria Feng placed fourth with a time of 1:45.80. It was the best time of the season for the Tartans in the 200-yard medley relay.
Sophomore Taylor Brown swam the 1,650-yard freestyle in a career-best time of 17:41.10 and placed 11th in the long distance event. First-year Stefanie McMillan finished the first 1,650-yard freestyle of her career in 18:26.24 and finished 16th overall.

The opening evening closed with the 800-yard freestyle relay. Sophomore Emma Nicklas-Morris, Li, first-year Megan Christy, and senior Emma Shi placed third with a time of 7:38.34. The time was six-tenths of a second off the school record and tops the NCAA Division III provisional qualifying mark of 7:39.30.

On Friday, Day and Nicklas-Morris each set a school record with five other times provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

Nicklas-Morris opened the individual events in the evening by placing third in the 200-yard butterfly in a career-best and school record time of 2:04.00. Li also swam a season-best in the 200-yard butterfly when she touched fourth in 2:05.62. Both provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships with their times Friday evening.

Shi had the best finish of the night in the 200-yard freestyle for the Tartans. Shi touched in 1:55.10 to place seventh in the B final with a career-best time.

Hochstedler and junior Cassidy Smith swam in the top final of the 100-yard breaststroke Friday night with Hochstedler swimming a career-best 1:03.98 and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships while touching fourth. Smith also swam a provisional qualifying time when she finished sixth with a time of 1:04.42.

Day placed ninth in the 100-yard backstroke when she touched in 57.20. During the morning preliminaries, Day finished the event in a provisional qualifying and school record time of 56.71. She later swam the 50-yard freestyle and finished 16th overall in 24.16 with her best time of the day coming in 24.09.

Nicklas-Morris picked up another NCAA qualifying time in the 400-yard IM when she finished in 4:27.39 in the preliminaries. She led the Tartans in the event in the finals, touching fourth overall in 4:28.94. Senior Mary St. John touched in 4:33.81 in the finals for seventh place and in 4:31.87 during preliminaries. First-year Jessica Chau swam a season-best time of 4:30.78 in the event during the preliminaries and provisionally qualifies for the NCAA meet with the time.

Day, Hochstedler, Li, and Nicklas-Morris finished the meet in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:53.09.

Earlier in the day, first-year Maddie Mianzo placed second in the 3-meter diving event with 362.10 points. Fellow first-year Lillie Widmayer was third with 336.10 points.

On Saturday, Christy led the Tartans in the 500-yard freestyle with a 15th-place finish in a time of 5:11.98. Brown was 17th in 5:13.71 and McMillan was 18th in 5:13.82

Chau earned a 10th-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a season-best time of 2:04.24 while Day touched 13th in 2:04.42.

Li was fourth overall in the 100-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 56.52. Her time also provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA Championships in the event. St. John was also in the top final of the 100-yard butterfly and finished eighth in a season-best time of 57.55.

Hochstedler also picked up a fourth-place finish when she touched in 2:20.33 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Her time of 2:18.40 in the preliminaries was a season-best and NCAA provisional qualifier. First-year Eliza Bell also swam in the top final of the event and placed 10th in 2:25.04.

The top finisher for the Tartans in the 100-yard freestyle was first-year Emma Graham. Graham was 19th in the event with a season-best time of 53.43.

Three Tartans made the top final of the 200-yard IM with Nicklas-Morris placing third in a provisional time of 2:06.52. Chau was fifth in 2:08.06 while St. John was 10th in 2:14.36.

The 400-yard freestyle relay of Nicklas-Morris, Li, Graham, and Shi closed the meet with a season-best time of 3:31.79.

In diving, Mianzo placed second on the 1-meter board with a score of 385.10 while Widmayer was third with 339.20 points and sophomore Megan Roche was fourth with 333.25 points.

The Tartans will take a break from competition for winter break until Jan. 13 when they travel to Westminster College for a 12:00 p.m. meet.