Carnegie Mellon Tops Case in First Meet of Semester

Jan. 13 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Tartans swimming and diving teams returned from their training trip in Florida on Wednesday, January 10 and defeated Case Western Reserve University in their first day of competition. The men won by a score of 172.5 to 113.5 and the women 166 to 108. In all, the men swept six events and the women had nine first place finishes.

The men’s 200-yard medley relay teams finished 1, 3, 4 to start the meet off for the Tartans. The combination of sophomore Ryan Piper (Ft. Washington, Pa./Upper Dublin), freshman Andrew Seo (Irvine, Calif./Northwood), senior David Krzeminski (Grandville, Mich.), and junior Patrick Snyder (Marlton, N.J./St. Joseph’s Prep) completed the event in 1:38.30 and nearly a second ahead of Case’s top team.

Sophomore distance man Tom McConnell (Baltimore, Md./Friends School of Baltimore) had one of the best swims of the meet with a negative split in the 1,000-yard freestyle. McConnell touched the wall in 10:01.39 taking first place and finishing the second 500 yards faster than he started the first 500. Freshmen Jonas Altman-Kurosaki (New York, N.Y./Stuyvesant) and Gates Winkler (Pasadena, Calif./Polytechnic) completed the sweep, finishing second and third, respectively.

Krzeminski, freshman John Johnson (Allentown, Pa.), junior David Mohney (Sedona, Ariz./Sedona Red Rock) and junior Andy Douglass (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) contributed with victories in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.35), 100-yard backstroke (54.68), 200-yard butterfly (2:05.16), and 500-yard freestyle (4:59.24), respectively.

Johnson later picked up his second first place finish with a two-minute flat time in the 200-yard backstroke, an event in which the Tartans swept the first three spots. Junior Michael Bailey (New Kent, Va.) edged out Krzeminski in the 100-yard freestyle touching the wall in 47.45 and .16 ahead of the senior captain.

“My biggest goal of the season is to return to nationals. Starting the second half of the season with a top time so soon after the training trip is a great way to begin. Continuing to train with a larger team will help greatly and I’m looking forward to the next meet,” commented Bailey.

In one of the closest races, sophomore Stephen Vu (Fairfax, Va./Robinson Secondary) won the 100-yard butterfly with a career-best time of 55.44 ahead of teammates Snyder (56.60) and freshman Andrew Weitz (Flourtown, Pa./Germantown Academy) at 56.68.

Top highlights for the women’s team included two first place finishes in the breaststroke for junior Alex Kinzler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum), a second place finish for senior Jenny Sieger (Newtown Square, Pa./Radnor) and two first place finishes by junior Lauren Connell (Hasbrouck Hts., N.J.). Kinzler finished one second off her top time in the 100-yard event with a 1:08.41 finish and missed the “B” cut in the 200-yard event by less than a second with a 2:28.08 ending. Sieger was just .20 seconds off her top time in the 50-yard freestyle with a 24.68 finish.

Connell deserves recognition for swimming the most exciting races of the day, nearly taking the pool record in the 100-yard freestyle (53.41) and out-pacing two Case swimmers in the last 25 yards to win the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:01.93.

“It’s exciting to finish so well coming out of the training trip. Swimming so close to a national cut time when tired gives hope to make that cut when rested,” Connell stated. “The team did well to get through the soreness of the trip today and many of us had top overall times.”

The 200-yard medley relay team started the meet with a win for the Tartans on the female side. Sophomore Allison Retotar (Gillette, N.J./Watchung Hills), Kinzler, Sieger, and Connell completed the event in 1:54.84.

Also taking first place finishes were sophomore Becky Martz (Webster, N.Y./Webster Thomas), freshman Sara Andrews (Washington, Pa./Trinity), junior Anna Kochalko (Encinitas, Calif./Univ. of San Diego HS) and Retotar. Martz finished the 1,000-yard freestyle in 11:14.13, Andrews won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:03.22 and Kochalko won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:13.03. Retotar took the 200-yard backstroke title with a time of 2:20.69.

Carnegie Mellon returns to the pool with another home dual meet against Allegheny College on January, 20 starting at 1:00 p.m.