Women's Swimming & Diving Win 20th Straight UAA Title; 26th Overall

Women's Swimming & Diving Win 20th Straight UAA Title; 26th Overall

For the 20th straight season and 26th time overall, the Emory University Women's Swimming and Diving program claimed the University Athletic Association team title as the championship meet concluded Saturday night at the Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center inside the Woodruff PE Center on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta.

The Eagles finished the four-day meet with 2,049 points, more than 800 points ahead of the rest of the field. NYU finished in second place with 1,246.5 points followed by Carnegie Mellon (1,213.5), Chicago (1,210.5) and Washington (1,209.5). The 802.5-point margin of victory was the most for an Emory team at the UAA Championships since 2012.

Senior Cindy Cheng became just the third female in UAA history to be named the Swimmer of the Year for a third time following an impeccable performance for the Eagles. Cheng recorded event titles in all seven events she competed in during the meet while setting four UAA records. She earned individual titles in the 500 Freestyle (4:47.94 – UAA Record), 100 Backstroke (54.16 – UAA Record), 200 Backstroke (1:57.87 – UAA Record) and was part of four championship winning relays: 400 Medley (3:44.34), 200 Medley (1:42.06), 800 Freestyle Relay (7:25.44) and the 400 Freestyle Relay (3:21.53 – UAA Record).

For the fifth consecutive year and 10th time overall, Head Coach Jon Howell and his staff were named the Women's Coaching Staff of the Year. Howell is joined on his staff by Cindy Fontana, Chris Marshall, John Petroff and Bobby Hackett.

Over the four-day meet, the Eagles won event titles in 16 of the 18 swimming events, earned 32 All-UAA honors and set six new UAA records.

Emory closed out the meet on Saturday with five more event wins including a pair of UAA records. In addition to Cheng winning the 200 Backstroke, the Eagles saw victories by junior Julia Durmer in the 1,650 Freestyle (16:57.08), junior Fiona Muir in the 100 Freestyle (50.68), senior Rebecca Upton in the 200 Fly (2:03.06) and the 400 Freestyle Relay of Cheng, Muir, senior Ming Ong and junior Meg Taylor (3:21.53 – UAA Record).

Adding All-UAA honors for the host school on the final day of competition were Upton in the 1,650 Free (2nd, 17:09.77), Taylor (2nd, 50.75) and Ong (3rd, 50.93) in the 100 Freestyle, junior Ashley Daniels in the 200 Breaststroke (2nd, 2:18.60) and senior Megan Campbell in the 200 Butterfly (2nd, 2:03.44).

Emory returns to the pool next weekend with the Queens Invitational which will serve as the final tune up for the 2018 National Championships which will take place from March 21st – 24th in Indianapolis, IN.