HIRAM, OH - Melissa Puskar (Fy., Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) won two events in the pool, but the Chatham University swimming & diving team narrowly fell to host Hiram College on Friday, 58-53. The Cougars were also defeated by Defiance College, 60-45. Puskar won the 200m Freestyle with a time of 2:20.61, and took the 400m Freestyle crown with a time of 5:05.97.

Kianna Hedjazi (So., Monroeville, PA/Gateway) and Alexis Rectenwald (Fy., Pittsburgh, PA/Penn Hills) took the top two spots in each diving event. Hedjazi won the 1m board with 211.10 total points. Rectenwald finished second with a score of 197.15. On the 3m board, Rectenwald won with a score of 195.75, while Hedjazi was the runner-up with 178.60 points.

In the other tri-match of the evening, Hiram defeated Defiance 66-43.

Hedjazi and Rectenwald will return to action tomorrow, Saturday, November 17 at the Carnegie Mellon Diving Invitational. The rest of the swimming team will next compete November 29-December 1, when they travel to the College of Wooster Invitational.

-COUGARS-

Chatham University prepares students from around the world to help develop solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges. Consistently ranked among the top master's level institutions in the Northeast by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Chatham University is also ranked in the top five percent of graduate-intensive institutions nationally and experienced the fastest-growing enrollment in the Pittsburgh region over the past decade. Founded in 1869, Chatham University includes the Shadyside Campus, with the historic 39-acre Woodland Road arboretum and Chatham Eastside facility; and the 388-acre Eden Hall Campus north of Pittsburgh. For more information, call 800-837-1290 or visit www.chatham.edu.