Emory University junior Patrick Augustyn and
senior April Whitley each won the first individual
National Championships of their careers, leading the Eagles during
the third of four days of the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving
Championships.
Augustyn won the 200-yard butterfly with a school-record time of
1:46.87 in the finals, besting the previous school record by 1.63
seconds. He claimed the first National Championship for the
Emory men since former Eagle Keith Diggs won the 400-yard
individual medley in 2008, and the 10th National Title
overall for the men’s program. Augustyn is the first
Eagle to ever win the men’s 200-yard butterfly at the NCAA
Championships.
Meanwhile, Whitley claimed her first career individual National
Championship, and her third title overall this meet, winning the
100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:02.11 in the finals, and a
school-record mark of 1:01.81 in the preliminaries. It was
the 22nd individual championship in the history of the
women’s program, and the 29th overall including
relays. Whitley won the fifth 100-yard breaststroke National
Championship in the women’s program’s history and first
since Kendal Hansen’s title in the event in 1993.
Besides Augustyn’s win in the 200-yard butterfly, Emory
senior Mackenzie Perry earned an all-America
finish in the event as well with a seventh-place finish in a time
of 1:49.22 in the preliminaries. Earning all-America
honorable mentions in the event were Matthew
O’Brien (10th place, 1:49.98) and
Benjamin Redpath (13th place,
1:51.22).
Also setting a school-record with an all-America finish for the
Emory men was freshman Ross Spock, who finished
third in 100-yard backstroke with a time of 49.03 seconds, besting
his own school record set earlier in the year. The Eagles
also received an all-America finish from their 800-yard freestyle
relay team of Mark Bernstein, Sean
Ransenberg, Peter O’Brien and
Justin Leemis, which finished fourth in a time of
6:39.54.
With one day remaining the Emory men are in third place in the team
standings with 271.5 points, trailing first-place Kenyon College
(362.5) and second-place Denison University (327.5). The
Eagles lead fourth-place M.I.T. by 110.5 points.
Meanwhile, the women maintained their firm grip on first place
heading into the final day of competition, as the Eagles have now
scored 420 points to lead second-place Denison (328 points) and
third-place Williams College (301 points).
Besides Whitley’s performance, the Eagles set school records
in two other events during the day. Freshman Sadie
Nennig broke the program record in the 100-yard backstroke
with a time of 55.80 seconds, finishing second overall. The
Eagles’ 800-yard freestyle relay team also set a school
record with a time of 7:20.22, as Anne Culpepper,
Whitley Taylor, Katie Mroz and
Liz Horvat finished second overall in the
event.
Also earning all-America honors during day three was Leslie
Hackler, who finished seventh in the finals of the
200-yard butterfly after swimming a time of 2:02.75 in the
preliminaries.
Picking up all-America honorable mentions during the day were
Laura Manor in the 200-yard butterfly
(15th place, 2:04.83), Jacqueline
Schneider in the 100-yard backstroke (11th
place, 56.73 seconds) and Jennifer Aronoff in the
100-yard breaststroke (ninth place, 1:03.73).
The NCAA Championships will conclude tomorrow with the 100-yard
freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, 400-yard
freestyle relay, 1,650-yard freestyle and the men’s three
meter dive.
Augustyn & Whitley Win National Championships on Day 3 of NCAAs
Posted: Mar 25, 2011