Back-to-back national championships in the final events of the night have pulled the Emory University men's swimming & diving team back into first place at the 2023 NCAA Championships heading into the final day.
Terrific performances in the 100 Breaststroke and 800 Freestyle Relay have the Eagles now leading the pack with 359.5 points, just five points ahead of Kenyon College, as the two-team race moves into the fourth and final day.
The Eagles began to mount their comeback in the 100 Breaststroke with four swimmers in the two finals, with three finishing inside the top-six. Junior Jake Meyer became the second Eagle, and first since Andrew Wilson, to win a national championship in the event as he threw down a winning time of 52.87. This marks the first-ever individual title for Meyer and the second national championship for the junior at this year's championships.
Graduate student Jason Hamilton secured a bronze medal in the 100 Breast at 53.26 with freshman Henri Bonnault earning his first-ever All-America honor, touching in sixth at 53.97.
Following the 100 Breast, the Eagles carried the momentum into the 800 Freestyle with junior Nicholas Goudie, sophomore Crow Thorsen, Hamilton and senior Pat Pema putting on a show to win Emory's second relay title of the week. The group set the national record with a winning mark of 6:26.98, going under last year's Emory's record of 6:28.69 set by Pema, Logan D'Amore, Hamilton and Goudie.
Additional points on the night came from three consolation finals with sophomore Jeff Echols placing 15th in the 200 Fly, senior Colin LaFave grabbing 10th in the 100 Backstroke and graduate student Justin Lum finishing 13th in the 100 Breast.
Emory will look to complete the repeat on Saturday with a schedule that features the 100 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke, 1650 Freestyle, men's 3-meter diving and the 400 Freestyle Relay. Prelims get underway at 10am with the finals to start at 6pm and can be viewed live on NCAA.com.