The Emory University Men's Swimming and Diving team began the UAA Championships with authority on Thursday night, winning four of the five swimming events contested including three in UAA-record setting fashion.

At the conclusion of competition on Thursday, the Eagles sit in first place with 533 points with NYU in second at 459 points. Washington is in third at 433.5 with Chicago (369), Carnegie Mellon (300.5) Case Western Reserve (234), Rochester (202) and Brandeis (157) rounding out the team standings.

Senior Oliver Smith and junior Thomas Gordon repeated as conference champions to highlight the Emory individual performances on the evening. Smith defended his 50 Freestyle crown and bested his own UAA record, setting a new top standard at 19.93 while Gordon became the first Eagle in program history to win multiple 500 Freestyle events, taking top honors with a time of 4:28.65.

Smith assisted on a pair of relay victories with both relays setting new UAA records. Smith, senior Aaron Schwartz, junior Trey Kolleck and sophomore Sage Ono opened the meet with a win in the 200 Freestyle Relay, touching at 1.20.61 and in the last event, Smith, Ono and seniors John Copses and Cooper Tollen edged out Washington in easily the closest race of the night, holding on to top the Bears by just .03 and posting a new UAA record of 3:15.16 in the 400 Medley Relay.

Kolleck and Ono added All-UAA honors for the Eagles in the 50 Freestyle as Emory claimed all three top spots in the event. Kolleck finished second with a finals time of 20.55 while Ono was third at 20.58.

The UAA Championships continue on Friday with the 200 Medley Relay, 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke, 800 Freestyle Relay and the women's 3-meter dive. Prelims of the swimming events begin at 10:00 AM with the diving prelims to follow at 12:45 PM.