PITTSBURGH — Molly Evans doesn't swim to break records, but she breaks them just the same.

The 2007 Butler High graduate left the Golden Tornado girls swimming program holding four of its records: the 200-yard individual medley, 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle.

She has been part of the Carnegie Mellon University swim team for only half a season, but she already owns the Tartans' record in the 100 and 200 backstroke, and the 200 and 400 individual medleys.

"I saw the record book when I got here,"Evans said. "But records have never really been a focus for me.

"It's how I do for myself, breaking my own personal bests, that count. If you set a goal of breaking a record and don't get there, you set yourself up for disappointment. Failing to break a record doesn't mean you're not having a good season."

Evans has broken plenty of records. And she's having a great season.

"I knew she was a talented swimmer," said first-year CMUcoach Matt Kinney. "Did I anticipate Molly coming here and doing what she's done to this point?Not a chance.

Evans also has the fastest time on the Tartans' squad in the 200 and 500 freestyle and 50 backstroke. She is also a key performer on CMU's 800 freestyle relay, as well as the 200 and 400 medley relays.

"I get a lot of motivation from swimming relays,"Evans said. "That's when four people can come together and accomplish something."

While Evans could have gone to a larger school, she went about her college selection based on academics first. She graduated with a No. 2 ranking academically at Butler and is maintaining a 4.0 grade-point average as a biology major at CMU.

She considered Johns Hopkins and the University of Rochester, also Division IIIschools, before selecting CMU.

"It was a school where academics came first and it's closer to home than the other two,"Evans said. "The coach was hired two days before I decided to go there, so I was a little unsure. Then we talked on the phone and I knew the swim program there would work out for me.

"I wasn't worried about a scholarship or getting money to go to school. I wanted to swim for the pleasure of it."

Kinney was hired as CMU's swim coach April 25, replacing Butler resident David Belowich, who won more than 100 meets while coaching numerous individual national champions and all-Americans.

"At the time I was hired, I knew Molly was among the swimmers the program was recruiting,"Kinney said. "I'm just glad we got her."

Evans already has broken some of her own records with the Tartans. Her 200 backstroke record of 2 minutes, 4.71 seconds is eight seconds faster than the school's previous mark.

Evans said she anticipated the training being more intense at the collegiate level and she's responded to that.

"I trained with the Seneca Valley Swim Club all summer and started hitting the water at Carnegie Mellon as soon as I got here,"she said. "I wanted to be ready."

Among her first goals as a collegiate swimmer was to qualify for the Division IIInationals. She's done that in the 200 backstroke.

"Now I feel like I can get there in two or three other events, along with the relays," Evans said.