The Emory University Women's Swimming and Diving team begins its quest for a ninth consecutive national championship and 11th overall as the 2017-18 season gets underway Wednesday afternoon against the University of Georgia.
The meet versus the Bulldogs will consist of primarily relay events featuring 200 Medley, 500 Free, 300 Fly, 300 Back, 200 Free, 300 Breast and the 400 Free. The meet is scheduled to begin at 4:00 PM inside the Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center and will be streamed live on emoryathletics.com.
Returners
The Eagles welcome back 31 letterwinners from last year's squad including 10 All-Americans and six national champions. All-Americans returning include Megan Campbell, Cindy Cheng, Ashley Daniels, Julia Durmer, Hannah Lally, Fiona Muir, Caroline Olson, Ming Ong, Meg Taylor and Julia Wawer. The Eagles also bring back Honorable Mention All-Americans Sia Beasley and Maria Turcan.
All three individual national champions from 2016-17 return as well as Cheng will try to defend her 200 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke national titles as will Durmer in the 1,650 Freestyle and Muir in the 100 Freestyle.
Newcomers
Emory is set to add depth to an already strong team with 11 newcomers joining the ranks: Lucy Daro (Mill Valley, CA/San Francisco University HS), Lara Gemar (Phoenix, AZ / Phoenix Country Day), Camille Joblonski (Media, PA / Strath Haven), Katie Kushner (New Canaan, CT / New Canaan), Gracie Peterson (Spotsylvania, VA / Riverbend), Bethany Seagraves (Baton Rouge, LA / Saint Joseph's Academy), Maly Shores (Hickory, NC / Hickory), Grace Snyder (Apple Valley, MN / Visitation School), Rachel Song (Buffalo Grove, IL / Adlai E. Stevenson), Christy Taylor (Valencia, CA / Valencia) and Jessica Weiss (New York, NY / Columbia Grammar Prep).
Coaching Staff
Jon Howell returns for his 20th year as head coach of the Eagles. During his first 19 seasons at the helm, Howell has guided the Emory women to historic heights, winning the national championship each of the last eight seasons and 10 times overall and has won the University Athletic Association title each season. Howell is assisted by long time members of his staff Cindy Fontana, Chris Marshall, John Petroff and Alex Kossenkov.
2017-18 Schedule
The Eagles open with the UGA Relay meet and a diving competition in Moultrie, GA this week before the annual Blue-Gold Intrasquad meet next Friday, October 6th. Emory then faces Queens University (Oct. 14), Birmingham-Southern (Oct. 21), Wingate, Catawba and Georgia Southern (Nov. 3-4) before closing out the calendar year with the Miami and SCAD Invitationals November 30th – December 2nd.
The Eagles begin the 2018 year at Florida Southern on January 12th and the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin on January 20th before swimming against West Florida and Delta State (Jan. 20), Georgia Tech (Jan. 27) and another meeting versus the University of Georgia on February 3rd before the championship portion of the schedule.
Emory will play host for UAA Championships this season from February 14th-17th as the Eagles try for their 20th consecutive conference championship. After the UAA Championships, the Eagles travel to Charlotte for the Queens College Invitational for the final tune up before the NCAA Championships. The 2018 edition of the NCAA Division III Championships are set for March 21st-24th in Indianapolis, IN.