School Records Fall at UAA Championships

Feb. 8 - (CLEVELAND, Ohio) - The Carnegie Mellon men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swam at the first day of the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships Thursday, February 8, held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. After day one, the women find themselves in fourt place with 299 points, while the men finished day one third with a total of 399 points.

Senior Jenny Sieger (Newtown Square, Pa./Radnor) captured her second straight individual UAA title in the 50-yard freestyle. She broke the pool record after touching the wall in 24 seconds flat. Sieger’s time also broke her own school record in which she tied in her last meet. Junior Lauren Connell (Hasbrouck Hts., N.J.) also competed in the 50-yard freestyle finals and improved from her sixth place finish a year ago to capture fifth place with a time of 24.73, setting a personal best.

The Tartans turned in two second place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle relay. For the women, Sieger and Connell teamed up with sophomore Allison Retotar (Gillette, N.J./Watchung Hills) and freshman Sara Andrews (Washington, Pa./Trinity) setting yet another school record finishing with a time of 1:38.73.

Senior Dave Krzeminski (Grandville, Mich.), juniors Patrick Snyder (Marlton, N.J./St. Joseph’s Prep) and Mike Bailey (New Kent, Va.) along with sophomore Ron Papa (Malabon City, Philippines/Cranbrook Kingswood), recorded a second place time of 1:25.05 in the relay event, turning in their best time of the year.

The women’s 400-yard medley relay of sophomore Colleen Murphy (Aberdeen, N.J./Red Bank Catholic), Kinzler, junior Anna Kochalko (Encinitas, Calif./Univ. of San Diego HS) and Retotar placed third after Washington University and New York University with a time of 4:05.27.

Freshman diver Matt Kuhn (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) took home the championship in the 1-meter board event by .85 points scoring 382.35 after 11 dives. Fellow freshman Joe Kopko (Washington, Pa./Trinity) finished third. It marks the first time in school history that a men’s diver has took home a championship.

"It's pretty exciting. I was shocked when I found out I won; I wasn’t expecting it. The guy (freshman Stephen Graves of University of Rochester and McMurray, Pa.) in front of me was really good," commented Kuhn.

Other top individual finishes for the Tartans included a fourth place showing by junior Alex Kinzler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum/American Univ.) in the 200-yard IM (2:13.50), a fifth place finish for Snyder in the 50-yard freestyle (21.41), an eighth place finish by sophomore Tom McConnell (Baltimore, Md./Friends School of Baltimore) in the 500-yard freestyle(4:44.95) and an eighth place finish for freshman Andrew Weitz (Flourtown, Pa./Germantown Academy) in the 200-yard IM (1:58.50).

The meet continues with preliminary events in the morning of Friday, February 9 with finals to follow in the evening.