On a night full a dramatic finishes, the Emory University Women's Swimming and Diving team were the ones that prospered on Thursday, capitalizing on strong closing speed to win three national championships and surge into first place at the 2019 NCAA Championships in Greensboro, NC.
Through two days of competition, Emory now leads the pack with 254 points with Kenyon (230) and Denison (223) not far behind. Friday's schedule of events features the 200 Butterfly, 100 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke and the 800 Freestyle Relay. Preliminaries start at 10:00 AM EST with finals to follow at 6:00 PM EST.
Senior Fiona Muir had an all-around superb showing, claiming her second individual title of the 2019 Championships and assisting on both relay titles. In the 200 Freestyle, Muir held off Williams' Lauren Westphal to capture her first-ever title in the event, throwing down a finals mark of 1:47.70 and edging Westphal by just four one-hundredths of a second.
It wasn't the only race decided by four one-hundredths of a second on Thursday as Muir along with freshman Zoe Walker and seniors Hannah Lally and Meg Taylor reclaimed the top spot in the 200 Freestyle Relay, out-touching Kenyon's relay squad and recording a finals time of 1:31.73. The national title is Emory's third in the last four years in the event.
The Eagles capped off the night with a stunning, come-from-behind victory in the 400 Medley Relay by Muir, junior Caroline Olson, senior Ashley Daniels and sophomore Lucy Daro. With Muir swimming the freestyle anchor leg, she was able to make up significant ground with her 48.88 split, a time that surpassed the Division III record mark 48.98, allowing her to race past Denison's Gabriella Nutter for the championship. The event win also marked the Eagles' third title in the last four national meets.
Emory added a pair of All-America performances on the night in the 400 IM with freshman Clio Hancock earning bronze with a time of 4:19.83 and senior Julia Durmer placing fifth at 4:21.12.
The Eagles claimed All-America Honorable Mention status in three different events as well with freshman Josie Uerling (9th, 4:25.55) and junior Maria Turcanu (15th, 4:29.10) in the 400 IM, Daro (13th, 55.72) and sophomore Bethany Seagraves (16th, 56.56) in the 100 Butterfly and Taylor in the 200 Free (10th, 1:50.93).