The No. 2 ranked Emory University swimming & diving teams returned to the pool following the long layoff for dual meet competition Wednesday afternoon against Centre College in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Eagles showed no rust following the hiatus as they swept the meet and collected 24 event wins. The women accounted for 14 event wins to provide the 198.5-79.5Â final margin and on the men's side, Emory boasted nine event wins for winning score of 156-122.
A trio of freshmen highlighted the Eagles for the women as Grace Scharper, Emma Lunn and Lauren Opitz notched double solo wins for the Gold caps. Scharper shined in the distance events for the Eagles, turning in winning marks of 10:45.40 in the 1000 Freestyle and 4:34.51 in the 400 IM. Lunn tallied top efforts in the 200 Freestyle (1:52.92) and 500 Freestyle (5:08.56) while Opitz swept the Butterflies with top marks of 2:08.80 in the 200 and 59.35 in the 100. In addition to rookie performers, sophomore Maddy Lu recorded the lone NCAA B Cut during the meet as she won the 200 Breaststroke at 2:20.08.
Adding event wins for the Emory women were freshman Holly Brundage in the 100 Backstroke (57.80), sophomore Allison Greeneway in the 100 Breaststroke (1:05.56), graduate student Ava Kennedy in the 50 Freestyle (23.85) and senior Penny Celtnieks in the 100 Backstroke (2:03.95). Furthermore, sophomore Jacqueline St. Clair registered one of the Eagles'Â wins on the diving boards with a score of 419.85 in the 1-meter and on the 3-meter, sophomore Maya Kriz topped the table at 286.86.
In the men's event, the accolades were spread out across the roster with eight different Emory caps earning wins on the afternoon.
Crow Thorsen secured the team's first win of the day in the 200 Freestyle (1:41.91) and was followed by back-to-back wins from sophomore Zachary Spicer in the 100 Backstroke (51.45) and senior Henri Bonnault in the 100 Breaststroke (55.61).
After a second place showing from McKee Thorsen in the 200 Fly (1:53.22), the Eagles ripped off another streak of three consecutive wins as graduate student Jared Zhang claimed the 50 Freestyle at 20.91 and was followed by a win from Hayden Tupper in the 100 Freestyle (45.23) and freshman Quinn Nelson in the 200 Backstroke (1:52.18).
Two straight second place finishes from Owen Howell in the 200 Breaststroke (2:09.05) and Ben Pritchard in the 500 Freestyle (4:42.37) preceded the final individual wins of the day by the Eagles coming from senior Patrick Horton in the 100 Fly (50.25) and freshman Carson Kalish in the 400 IM (4:03.07).
The Eagles padded to their totals with a three-event sweep in the relay events. Emory started the meet with a win in the 200 Mixed Medley Relay with Celtnieks, Bonnault, Horton and Jane Sanderson combining for a winning time of 1:36.80. At the conclusion, the team of Stephanie Lee, Katherine Swan, Cece York and Avery Sammons posted a time of 3:37.71 to win the 400 Freestyle Relay for the women and on the men's side, Tupper and Bonnault pair with Sven Becker and Satya Agashiwala for a top time of 3:08.74.
The Eagles face a quick turnaround as they'll make the trek to Athens on Saturday to go up against the University of Georgia before turning their attention the UAA Championships next month in Chicago.
