The Emory University swimming teams returned to the pool Friday evening with the start of one more opportunity to improve their marks before the NCAA Championships next month as the Emory February Invitational got underway in Atlanta.
The Eagles welcomed four different schools to the WoodPEC for the first day of competition. Emory recorded eight NCAA B Cuts during the evening session and saw both teams leading the standings with the women topping out at 144 points on day one and the men checking in with 184 points.
Freshman Luke Hartman notched the Eagles' lone NCAA B Cut during the event portion of the session as he touched at 4:30.34 in the 500 Freestyle.
As the night shifted into time trials, seven different swimmers recorded qualifying marks trying to improve their standings heading into the NCAA Championships.
On the men's side, freshman Quinn Nelson posted a time of 3:56.83 in the 400 IM while he was joined by sophomore Satya Agashiwala (48.24) in the 100 Fly, senior Jeff George (1:47.92) in the 200 Backstroke, sophomore Michael Kaiser (1:49.16) in the 200 Fly and freshman Ryan Schnur (2:00.14) in the 200 Breaststroke as NCAA B Cut performers on Friday.
For the women, they saw two swimmers register NCAA B Cuts on day one with both times occurring in the 200 Breaststroke as freshman Ellis McGraw went for 2:19.64 and sophomore Sophia Joos touched right behind her at 2:19.68.
The Emory February Invitational continues Saturday with session II getting started at 11:00 AM followed by the final session at 5:00 PM. Prior to the final session of the weekend, the Eagles will honor their 25-member graduating class with a special on-deck ceremony.