Tartans Swimming Sweep Case Western Reserve

Jan. 14 - (CLEVELAND, Ohio) – The Tartan’s men’s and women’s swimming teams both came away with wins against Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio Saturday, January 14. The men won 166-112, while the women totaled 160 points to Case Western’s 126. With the two wins, head coach David Belowich dual meet record surpassed 200 wins. He now holds an overall mark of 201-73, 110-34 at Carnegie Mellon, 85-34 at Pitt and 6-5 at the University of South Florida.

The men were led by senior Brian Hunter (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon) and junior David Krzeminski (Grandville, Mich.) who both had four, three individual and one relay, first place finishes. Hunter placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.61), 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.20) and the 200-yard IM (2:02.72), while Krzeminski finished first in the 100-yard freestyle (48.60), 200-yard freestyle (1:46.14), and the 100-yard butterfly (52.21). Both teamed up with senior Evan Powell (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) and freshman Ryan Piper (Ft. Washington, Pa./Upper Dublin) in the 200-yard medley relay placing first with a time of 1:39.23.

Freshman Tom McConnell (Baltimore, Md./Friends School of Baltimore) picked up two first places. One coming in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:06.42), and the other heading a Tartans sweep in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:55.00. Sophomore Andrew Douglass (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) finished behind McConnell in both the 500 and 1,000 free with times of 5:00.00 and 10:08.71 respectively. Freshman Jon Spring (McLean, Va.) picked up a third place finish in the 500 free with a time of 5:09.12.

Also picking up first place finishes for the Tartan men was Ron Papa (Malabon City, Philippines/Cranbrook Kingswood) in the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.31) and sophomore Damian McIntyre (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) in the 100-yard backstroke (55.90). McIntyre finished second behind Papa in the 200 back and senior Evan Powell (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) placed second behind McIntyre in the 100 back. Powell also placed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.41.

Senior diver Julie Pavia (Wilbraham, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) picked up two first place finishes once again for the Tartans in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events totaling 238.25 points and 235.4 points. Freshman Alex DeFazio (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) finished behind Pavia in both events for the second straight dual meet.

Sophomore Alexandra Kinzler (Apollo, Pa./Plum) earned two individual first place finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.50) and 200 breaststroke (2:29.05). She was also part of a Tartan first place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:52.48). Sophomores Emily Tong (Allison Park, Pa./North Allegheny) and Lauren Connell (Hasbrouck Hts., N.J./Hasbrouck Hts.), and junior Jenny Sieger (Newton Square, Pa./Radnor) were the other Tartans swimmers on the 200 medley team.

Sieger, Connell, and Tong each had an individual first place finish as well. Sieger’s came in the 50-yard freestyle (25.67), Connell’s in the 100 freestyle (55.85), while Tong placed first in the 100- yard backstroke (1:02.33) and finished second to Connell in the 100 freestyle with a time of 57.66.

Sophomore Anna Kochalko (Encinitas, Calif./Univ. of San Diego HS) won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:30.03 and led the sweep of the event for Carnegie Mellon. Following Kochalko was freshman Becky Martz (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas) and freshman Tina Daup (Eagan, Minn.).

The Tartan swim teams will be in action again January 21, as they host Allegheny College in their final home contest of the year. Start time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.