The Emory University men's swimming & diving team made a strong push to overtake the overall lead Thursday night as the University Athletic Association Championships continued in Atlanta.
On the strength of two more event titles and a total of three All-UAA efforts, the Eagles hold a slim lead over the rest of the field at the halfway point of the meet. Through two days, Emory stands atop the league table with 575.5 points with UChicago and New York University hot on its heels with 568.5 and 568 points, respectively.
Freshman Ben Pritchard garnered the second event championship of the meet for the Eagles as he pulled off the win in the 500 Freestyle with a winning mark of 4:24.61 – just .27 shy of the UAA record.
Additional All-UAA performances came during the night's relay events as freshman Zachary Spicer, junior Henri Bonnault, senior Jeff Echols and freshman Colin Zexter threw down a winning time of 3:11.56 to win the 400 Medley and nearly set a conference meet record in the process. At the start of the night, seniors Dylan Yin, Johnny Bradshaw, Nolan Lahmann and junior Patrick Horton were runners-up in the 200 Freestyle, posting a time of 1:20.50 in a championship final that came down to the last few strokes.
After seeing four swimmers finished among the top-15 in the 500 Freestyle, the Eagles earned a large portion of their night's scoring in the 200 IM and 50 Freestyle events.
In the 200 IM, six Eagles finished inside the top-18 during finals with sophomore McKee Thorsen (5th, 1:48.95) and junior Sven Becker (7th, 1:49.29) reaching the podium. Senior Liyang Sun led a contingent of three in the B final that claimed the top three spots behind his time of 1:49.58.
In the 50 Freestyle, Yin finished on the podium as he took fourth at 20.25 while Bradshaw highlighted three Eagles in the B final as he placed 11th at 20.48.
The UAA Championships continues Friday with a slate featuring the men's 3-meter, 400 IM, 100 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke and 200 Medley Relay.
