Led by a national championship in the 200 medley relay, the Emory University men's swimming & diving team finished day one of the NCAA Division III National Championship in front of the rest of the field with 101 team points.
The Eagles compiled four All-America finishes as well as three All-America Honorable Mention performances across five events Wednesday night headlined by the final event of the evening. At the end of one day of action, the Eagles lead second place Denison by six points followed by Williams in third at 74 points.
The relay team of Ryan Soh, Jake Meyer, Hwa Min Sim and Colin LaFave captured the national championship with their winning time of 1:27.08, out-touching the team from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps by .30 seconds. It is Emory's third national title in the event in the last four meets and the fifth in the history of the event.
The Eagles added a pair of national runner-up efforts as junior Lucas Bumgarner was second in the 3-meter dive and sophomore Nicholas Goudie earned silver in the 50 Freestyle. In the 3-meter event, it came down to the final dive as Bumgarner was excellent, scoring 557.65 across his six dives, but was edged by Kenyon's Israel Zavaleta by 4.15 points. In the 50 Freestyle, Goudie and Rowan's Kevin Gillolooy were neck-and-neck but Gillolooy's closing speed helped him touch first by .26 seconds over Goudie.
Junior Pat Pema added a championship final podium finish for the Eagles on Wednesday as he took fourth in the 500 Freestyle. Pema got off to a strong start as he was in the lead position in the early stages of the race but was overtaken during the final 100, finishing with a time of 4:24.54.
Emory recorded points as well by LaFave in the 50 Free and in the 500 Freestyle by sophomores Logan D'Amore and Adam Copses. In the 50, LaFave placed 14th with time of 20.24 and in the 500, D'Amore and Copses finished back-to-back in the 12th and 13th positions with both swimmers notching personal-best times of 4:27.27 and 4:28.48.
The 2022 NCAA Division III Championships continue Thursday with the 200 Freestyle Relay, 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, women's 1-meter diving and the 400 medley relay. Prelims start at 10:00 AM with the finals to follow at 6:00 PM at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, IN.