The streak of excellence continued Saturday night for the Emory University men's swimming & diving team as for the 26th time the Eagles were crowned University Athletic Association champions.
On the final night in Atlanta, the Eagles rode the strength of one more event title and five additional All-UAA performances to close out a strong week of competition. Emory won the meet by 95.5 points, finishing with a total of 1,682 points with New York University coming in second place at 1,586.5 points.
At the end of the meet, freshman Solly Berkenwald became the sixth Emory man to be named the UAA Diver of the Year as he was the big award winner for the Eagles. Furthermore, Head Coach Jon Howell and his staff of Cindy Fontana, John Petroff, Bob Hackett and Tomasz Rossa were named the league's Coaching Staff of the Year. It is the seventh time Howell and his constituents have won the award on the men's side and first since 2022. In addition, Rossa was named the men's Diving Coach of the Year for the first time.
The night got underway with freshman Ben Pritchard finishing as the runner-up in the mile with his time of 15:28.06. Pritchard was one of three straight All-UAA efforts by an Eagle as sophomore Graham Zucker was the runner-up in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:46.45 and classmate Hayden Tupper placed third in the 100 Freestyle at 44.60. Zucker was one of seven Eagles to finish inside the top 13 in the event while Tupper topped five Eagles inside the top 23.
Emory's lone event championship of the night came in the 200 Breaststroke as senior Liyang Sun secured the win with a finals time of 1:56.50, giving him his first-ever conference crown. Junior Henri Bonnault added All-UAA honors in the event as he took third at 1:59.41. The duo were two of five Eagles to finish among the top 10 spots.
Sophomore McKee Thorsen added a runner-up finish for the Eagles in the 200 Fly as he turned in a time of 1:46.90 in the final individual event of the meet.
The Eagles rounded out the meet with a strong performance in the 400 Freestyle Relay with the team of Tupper, Thorsen, senior Dylan Yin and freshman Colin Zexter were fourth in the A Final at 2:58.45 and the group of seniors Johnny Bradshaw, Nolan Lahmann and juniors Sven Becker and Caden Bjornstad were 10th at 3:00.13.
Over the four days inside the Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center, the Eagles turned in eight event wins and 17 All-UAA finishes.
