The 2025 University Athletic Association Swimming & Diving Championships got underway Wednesday night in Atlanta with the Emory Eagles looking to extend their dominance at the conference meet.
The first day of competition saw UAA athletes compete in the men's 1-meter diving event as well as the first swimming event with the 800 Freestyle Relay. The Violets of NYU swept both relay competitions to help them build leads in both the men's and women's standings with the Eagles checking in at second on the women's table and fourth in the men's standings through one day.
In diving, freshman Solly Berkenwald became the latest Emory Eagle to win a UAA title on the boards as he shined on the 1-meter. In prelims, he took the top spot with a score of 486.70 before he followed that up with a mark of 504.10 to win the title and was the lone UAA performer to cross the 500-points threshold.
As action moved to the swimming portion of the pool, the Violets set a UAA record in the women's 800 Freestyle Relay as NYU bested Emory's team of Elodie Mitchell, Katherine Swan, Louisa Wendt and Penelope Helm by seven seconds in the championship final. The Eagles' team touched the wall at 7:21.21 compared to NYU's time of 7:14.56.
In the consolation final, NYU clipped Emory again in a close race with the Violets recording a time of 7:24.44 to edge out Emory's group of Sarah Daly, Natalie Boorjian, Jada Chatoor and Meredith Liu (7:27.85).
In the men's heats, Emory's B team consisting of Evan Prabhu, Ben Pritchard, Graham Zucker and Zachary Spicer opened things up by winning the consolation final with a time of 6:36.26.
The championship final proved to be the best event of the night as the top three teams all came in with times under the previous UAA record of 6:33.33. The Violets took first at 6:30.99 followed by Chicago at 6:31.68 then Emory's team of Hayden Tupper, Sven Becker, Alexander Pollack and McKee Thorsen at 6:32.82 to earn All-UAA honors.
The UAA Championships will continue Thursday with a competition slate featuring the 200 Freestyle Relay, 500 Freestyle, 200 IM, 50 Freestyle and women's 3-meter diving. Prelims are set to get underway at 10:00 AM.
