The Emory University men's and women's swimming and diving teams each took home their 14th-consecutive University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships on Saturday, winning the conference title in Cleveland, Ohio.
The women claimed the team title with 2,112 points, finishing ahead of second-place Chicago (1,288) and third-place Carnegie Mellon (1,125). The Emory men won the meet with 1,897 points, besting second-place Chicago (1,197) and third-place Case Western Reserve (1,153.5).
In addition to claiming the team titles, Emory took home a number of the individual conference honors. Sophomore Sadie Nennig and junior Peter O'Brien were each named the UAA Swimmers of the Year, while freshman McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg was named the UAA Women's Rookie of the Year. Emory's Jon Howell, Cindy Fontana, Nick Lake, Chris Marshall and Andy Diechert earned UAA Women's Coaching Staff of the Year honors.
On the final day of the meet, Nennig set a UAA record in the 200-yard backstroke with an 'A' cut time of 2:00.75 in the preliminaries to win the event. It was the third individual UAA record-setting performance for the sophomore, who broke the conference record in the 200-yard individual medley on Thursday, and the 100-yard backstroke record on Friday. Nennig was also a part of Emory's UAA-record setting 200-yard medley relay team and first-place 400-yard medley relay team.
O'Brien added an individual conference championship during the final day of competition for the Emory men, winning the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:03.43. During the course of the meet he also claimed victories in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breaststroke, while helping Emory to relay wins in the 200-yard medley and 400-yard medley relays.
Newsum-Schoenberg won a pair of UAA titles during the meet, including one in the 1,650-yard freestyle during the final day of competition. She claimed a victory in the event with an 'A' cut time of 16:55.45. Earlier in the meet, she won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:55.78.
The Emory women completed the meet with a dominating performance on the final day, not only winning all six events, but claiming all but one of the all-UAA honors available in individual events during the day.
Emory's 400-yard freestyle relay team of junior Renee Rosenkranz junior Anna Dobben, senior Whitley Taylor and junior Ann Wolber set a new UAA record as well, winning the event with an 'A' cut time of 3:25.48 in the event.
Besides Nennig's record-setting performance to win the 200-yard backstroke, Taylor and senior Anne Culpepper finished second and third with times of 2:02.03 and 2:02.35 to earn all-UAA honors as well.
Emory's women took home the top-five finishes in the finals of the 100-yard freestyle, led by Dobben's time of 51.34 seconds to win conference title in the event. She was followed by Rosenkranz (51.37 seconds) and Wolber (51.92 seconds) in second and third place.
Freshman Megan Beach claimed her first-career UAA Championship with a win in the 200-yard breaststroke, placing first with a time of 2:19.70. Sophomore Kylie McKenzie (2:21.39) and senior Jennifer Aronoff (2:23.76 in the preliminaries) each earned all-UAA honors, finishing second and third respectively.
It was another Emory freshman, Nina Zook, who took home the conference title in the 200-yard butterfly, winning the event with a time of 2:04.38, while junior Leslie Hackler placed second (2:05.64) and freshman Michelle York third (2:07.14).
Freshman McKenzie Clark added an all-UAA honor with a third-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:13.85.
By the end of competition on Saturday, Emory's women finished the meet with conference titles in 16 of the 20 events, and earning 39 all-UAA honors.
In addition to O'Brien's win in the 200-yard breaststroke, the Emory men claimed two other individual championships on the final day, led by junior Miller Douglas, who broke the conference record in the 200-yard butterfly with an 'A' cut time of 1:49.54 to win the event. Sophomore Ryan Bass also claimed an individual conference title with a time of 45.83 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle.
The Eagles also won the conference championship in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as sophomore Jake Stephens, senior Jared Dubnow, senior Sean Ransenberg and Bass finished first in the event with a pool-record time of 3:02.49.
Adding all-UAA finishes on the final day for the Emory men were senior Paul Weinstein in the 1,650-yard freestyle (3rd place, 15:53.69), Dubnow in the 200-yard backstroke (3rd place, 1:52.36 in the prelims), Stephens in the 100-yard freestyle (2nd place, 46.28 seconds) and junior Justin Beegle in the 200-yard breaststroke (2nd place, 2:04.77).
Emory's men totaled 13 UAA Championships and 28 all-UAA honors at the meet.
With the UAA Championships now behind them, the Eagles will turn their attention toward preparing for the NCAA Division III Championships in mid-March. Emory swimmers and divers will have one more opportunity to improve on their qualifying marks before the Nationals, taking part in the UGA Last Chance Invitational on February 25th and 26th.
Emory Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Claim 14th-Straight UAA Championships
Posted: Feb 18, 2012