The Emory University women's swimming & diving team used one event title and seven All-UAA finishes to surge ahead Thursday night at the UAA Championships in Atlanta.
Following a strong all-around performance across six events, the Eagles lead the field with 699 points. A closely competitive three-way race at the top sees New York University standing just 22 points behind Emory through two days of action with the University of Chicago in third with 561.5 points.
Freshman Caitlin Crysel excelled on night two for the Eagles as she won the first event championship for Emory on the women's side this week by touching first in the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.62.
The Eagles added two top-five finishes in the event to go along with Crysel's win as senior Rosalie Gaudiani collected the first All-UAA honor of her career by placing third at 2:04.61 and freshman Sophia Joos claimed fifth at 2:05.73. The Eagles tacked on three more scoring finishes in the event, including sophomore Katie Cohen who won the C final at 2:05.99.
Junior Ren Watt opened the evening with the first individual All-UAA performance of the meet for the Eagles as she placed third in the 3-meter with a finals score of 451.05. She improved upon her prelims effort where she finished fifth at 432.10.
The Eagles were able to move into first place at the end of the night in large part because of the 500 Freestyle where Emory had eight swimmers across the 24 finalists positions including four in the A final. Graduate student Penelope Helm came in second place in the event with a time of 4:52.67 with junior Meredith Liu (4th, 4:55.04) and freshman Elodie Mitchell (5th, 4:56.48) adding top-five efforts. Additionally, junior Morgan Main finished seventh at 4:57.23 to round out the A Final participants.
Senior Ava Kennedy also became a first time All-UAA performer with her runner-up finish in the 50 Freestyle, leading five Eagles that finished inside the top-12 overall. Kennedy posted a time of 23.11 followed by sophomore Natalie Boorjian in eighth with a time of 23.76.
All-UAA finishes were turned in during both relay events as well as Kennedy, Crysel, Boorjian and freshman Louisa Wendt were runners-up in the 200 Freestyle Relay at 1:32.61 and Cohen, Crysel, Kennedy and graduate student Megan Jungers were third in the 400 Medley at 3:43.98.
The Eagles also swept both consolation wins in the relays with Joos and juniors Penny Celtnieks, Isabel Huang and Jane Sanderson recording a time of 1:33.59 in the 200 Freestyle and Celtnieks, Wendt, freshman Maddy Lu and sophomore Maren McDonald registered a time of 3:45.65 in the 400 Medley.
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.
