The Emory University men's swimming & diving team inched closer to University of Chicago's lead but still find itself in a tight two-way battle as the University Athletic Association Championships continued Friday in Atlanta.

The Eagles claimed four more titles on the third day of competition and compiled eight All-UAA finishes, cutting the Maroons' lead to just four points with one day remaining. Through Friday, UChicago leads the pack with 1,224 points compared to Emory's 1,220 points, whereas Carnegie Mellon is a distant third with 901 points.

Senior Lucas Bumgarner continued to etch his name into the record books as he won his fourth consecutive conference title in the 3-meter with 593.55 points, setting the stage for an electric night of action inside the WoodPEC.

After another stellar showing from Bumgarner, the Eagles proceeded to turn in three All-UAA efforts over the next three events before closing out the session with a flurry of highlight reel performances as senior Pat Pema, graduate student Jason Hamilton and senior Ryan Soh all captured conference titles for the Eagles.

For the first time in his career, Pema secured the conference crown in the 200 Freestyle after previously finishing third and second in the event, turning in a winning-time of 1:37.03. Next up, Hamilton won his first-ever title in the 100 Breaststroke after a second place finish in 2022. Hamilton led a trio of Eagles inside the top-five with his winning mark of 53.83. Soh rounded out the night's festivities with a race for the ages in the 100 Backstroke. Swimming on the outside in lane nine as he came into the finals seeded eighth, Soh went all out for the team's fourth title of the night, giving his all in record-breaking fashion to set a new UAA meet record at 48.03.

To go along with the four gold medal efforts, the Eagles saw All-UAA finishes turned in from sophomore Crow Thorsen in the 400 IM (2^nd, 3:55.09), sophomore Jeff Echols in the 100 Fly (3^rd, 48.25), freshman Henri Bonnault in the 100 Breast (3^rd, 54.94) and in the 200 Medley Relay by Soh, Hamilton, Echols and senior Colin LaFave (2^nd, 1:28.57).

Additional top-eight swims came from senior Will O'Daffer (4^th, 3:56.47) and sophomore Zachary Zhao (5^th, 3:56.53) in the 400 IM, sophomore Dylan Yin in the 100 Fly (5^th, 49.06), senior Jeffrey de Groot in the 200 Free (7^th, 1:39.05), graduate student Justin Lum (5^th, 55.23) in the 100 Breast and by LaFave (7^th, 49.22) and sophomore Alexander Pollack (8^th, 49.51) in the 100 Back.

Conference supremacy will be on the line on Saturday as Emory looks for its 24^th consecutive UAA championship with the final day of events featuring the 1,650 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Fly, women's 1-meter diving and the 400 Freestyle Relay.