Senior Thomas Gordon highlighted the Emory University Men's Swimming and Diving team on the first day of the 2019 NCAA Division III Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, capturing his second consecutive national title in the 500 Freestyle.
With the help of Gordon's national championship, the Eagles finished day one sitting second in the team standings with 105 points. Denison University leads the field with 136 points while Kenyon College is third with 97 team points.
Gordon became the 11th male in Division III history to win multiple event titles in the 500 Freestyle as he won his second straight, posting a championship final time of 4:24.19. He was one of four All-America finishes on the evening for the Eagles.
Senior Trey Kolleck finished as the national runner-up in the 50 Freestyle, touching at 19.69 in the finals while freshman Jason Hamilton recorded his first career All-America honor, taking sixth in the 500 Freestyle with a finals mark of 4:26.27.
Kolleck along with junior Sage Ono and freshmen Tyler Russell and Colin LaFave rounded out day one's action with a national runner-up showing in the 200 Medley Relay, posting a time of 1:28.48.
Ono added All-America Honorable Mention kudos in the 50 Free, taking 11th at 20.40, as did senior Zachary Chen (9th, 1:48.64) and freshmen Zach Lorson (12th, 1:50.35) and Pat Pema (16th, 1:51.66) in the 200 IM.
The NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships continues on Thursday with a slate featuring the 200 Freestyle Relay, 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 400 Medley Relay and the men's 1-meter diving. Preliminaries begin at 10:00 AM EST with finals to follow in the evening at 6:00 PM EST.