Emory University swimmers got their midseason competition underway on Thursday as the Eagles traveled to Granville, Ohio for the Denison Invitational. Emory is one of three teams competing at the three-day meet, alongside DePauw University and the host Big Red.

Day one in the pool featured five different events with Emory standing on top in the women's standings with 788 points while the men trail DU by 120 points, sitting second in the two-horse race with 704 points. The Eagles collected a pair of individual event wins on the day with both coming on the women's side of the meet, as well as a win in the women's 200 Freestyle Relay.

Earning solo victories for the Eagles were graduate student Sammi Thiele in the 200 IM where she notched a NCAA B Cut time at 2:03.07 and by fellow graduate Ava Kennedy in the 50 Free where she posted a NCAA B Cut mark of 23.02. Emory also touched first in the 200 Freestyle Relay with the team of Kennedy, Natalie Boorjian, Penny Celtnieks and Caitlin Crysel combining for a winning time of 1:32.77.

Sophomore Elodie Mitchell paced the Eagles in the 500 Freestyle with her team-leading time of 4:55.44 to finish second, one of three Eagles with NCAA qualifying marks inside the top five as she was joined by senior Morgan Main (4th, 4:59.53) and Katherine Swan (5th, 4:59.76). Celtnieks and Crysel also were part of the leading 400 Medley Relay for the Eagles as they teamed with Allison Greeneway and Maddy Lu to touch second at 3:43.72.

For the men, freshman Carson Kalish and senior Connor McHugh had second place finishes to pace the team with Kalish taking silver position in the 200 IM with a time of 1:48.49 and in the 50 Free, McHugh led the Eagles with a time of 20.35. Both marks represented NCAA B Cut times. In the 200 IM, junior McKee Thorsen added a NCAA B Cut as he placed fifth at 1:49.00.

Joao Lapagesse was Emory's top finishers in the finals of the 500 Freestyle as he had a third place showing and turned in a NCAA B Cut of 4:31.14. The Eagles added NCAA B Cut performances in the relay events with the group of McHugh, Hayden Tupper, Patrick Horton and Jared Zhang going for 1:20.26 to finish second in the 200 Freestyle Relay and in the 400 Medley Relay, Tupper, Zachary Spicer, Owen Howell and Satya Agashiwala finished second at 3:15.05.

The Denison Invitational continues on Friday with prelims at 10:00 AM followed by finals at 6:00 PM.