Senior Liyang Sun headlined the final night of the NCAA Championships for the Emory University men's swimming & diving team as the senior won the third national title for the Eagles at the national meet.
Sun capped off his Emory career with a milestone win as he continued the storied tradition of strong Emory performances in the breaststroke events. After watching teammate Henri Bonnault capture the 100 championship on Friday, Sun followed suit with the win in the 200. After going 1:58.45 in the morning, Sun threw down a 1:56.64 time in the finals to win his first-ever individual title and the third event championship for the Eagles this week.
Behind the three national titles over the final two days, the Eagles finished second in the team standings with 323.5 points. Emory saw its national championship streak halted as Denison won its sixth national crown and first since 2019. The Big Red amassed 463.5 points over its week in Greensboro and a pair of UAA foes rounded out the top four in Chicago (3rd, 272) and NYU (267.5).
In addition to Sun's win in the 200 Breaststroke, sophomore Graham Zucker turned in a podium finish for the Eagles as he was seventh in the 200 Backstroke with a time of 1:47.62.
Emory's final session of the season also included four Second Team All-America performances including three on the individual stage.
Freshman Ben Pritchard opened the evening with a 15:41.18 in the mile as he placed 10th overall. Later in the night, freshman Zachary Spicer and senior Nolan Lahmann were the top two finishers in the consolation final of the 200 Backstroke. Spicer notched a 1:46.93 to win the race with Lahmann touching just .02 seconds behind him.
The final event of the meet consisted of senior Dylan Yin, junior Caden Bjornstad, and sophomores McKee Thorsen and Hayden Tupper representing the Eagles in the 400 Freestyle Relay. Emory was 11th in prelims but shaved nearly two seconds off its morning time to win the consolation final with a time of 2:57.16. The consolation win was the Eagles' fifth of the week.
Across the four days in Greensboro, Emory recorded three national titles, 10 First Team All-America honors and 13 Second Team All-America awards.
The national runner-up finish marks the 23rd consecutive season the Eagles were among the top five at nationals, with 2025 representing the seventh consecutive season Emory either was the national champion or national runner-up.
