The men's and women's swimming squads concluded the 2012 portion of their season excelling in two three-day meets this weekend. The teams first competed in the Miami (Ohio) Invitational, where the men claimed first and the women second.
The Eagles then wrapped up the weekend at the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational with the men taking fourth and the women ninth.
"I thought they did a great job," Head Coach Jon Howell said. "This is a good benchmark for us mid-season to see where we are and they stepped up, and we accomplished a lot this weekend."
At the Miami Invitational the men finished with a total of 1,7772.5 points, which was good for a first place finish to defeat the two-time reigning NCAA Division III Champion Denison University (1,687.6 points).
Junior Ryan Bass dominated in the pool for the Eagles in individual as well as relay races. Bass finished the meet coming in first in three of his races. In the 50-yard freestyle, Bass finished with an NCAA 'A' cut time of 20.38 seconds, which was a hundredth of a second off his own personal best record and gave him the first-place finish.
Bass also contributed to the Eagles' 'A' cut 200-yard medley relay team, which claimed first in the event with a time of 1:30.01. Other members of that relay squad were seniors Peter O'Brien and Stephen Czaia and junior Ross Spock. Bass also recorded a 'B' cut time in the 100-yard freestyle, where he finished in eighth with his 45.94 mark.
"Ryan Bass did a great job," Howell said. "He was on the men's relay that actually broke the varsity record. He was right on posting one of his lifetime best times which for fall meet is good for him."
The most impressive group performance on the men's side came from the 200-yard freestyle relay team, which Bass was also a part of along with teammates senior Richard Upton, and juniors Jake Stephens, Bass and Ross Spock.
The team's time of 1:20.84 gave them an automatic NCAA qualifying time. The time also set a new meet record, marking the second-consecutive year that the Eagles have done so. They also set a new program record.
"I was happy with my performance in the 200 free relay," Upton wrote in an email to the Wheel. "I swam a smart race and I know I will throw up an even better time at conference championships and NCAA's in the spring."
Senior Miller Douglas also had a dominant outing, where he finished the 200-yard butterfly with an automatic NCAA qualifying time of 1:48.38 in the preliminaries round and then claimed the event in the finals.
O'Brien also lead the way with Emory's final 'A' cut time of the meet in the 200-yard individual medley, where his time of 1:50.34 was good for second place.
The men's team also finished with a total of 36 'B' cut times.
On the women's side, the Eagles finished with 1,459.5 points which put them in second place behind host Miami University's 2,753.5 points.
Junior Sadie Nennig led the way for the women with a pair of 'A' cut times in her individual races. Nennig's time of 2:00.75 in the 200-yard backstroke put her at sixth place in the event, and in the 200-yard individual medley, she finished seventh after recording a 2:04.60 mark in the preliminaries round.
The Eagles registered a few other 'A' cut times in the meet. The only other individual one coming from sophomore Nancy Larson in the 100-yard freestyle race where she claimed second place with a final mark of 50.59 seconds.
Larson was also a part of Emory's 400-yard freestyle relay team, which also took second place with an 'A' cut time of 3:23.54. Other members of the relay team were seniors Renee Rosenkranz, Anna Dobben and Ann Wolber.
The women finished the three-day meet recording a total of 53 'B' cut times as well.
Emory also had a second group of swimmers competing at the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational. The men finished in fourth out of six teams with a total of 270 points, while the women recorded a total of 172 points which put them at fourth of the nine teams.
At the meet, freshman Carolyn Bonfield and junior Suzzane Lemberg recorded 'B' times. Bonfield's time of 5:01.85 in the 500-yard freestyle was good for 13th place, while Lemberg's 52.08 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle preliminaries race placed her at 19th.
"I was really proud of the team ... We jumped right into the meet with enthusiasm and kept getting better with each consecutive session," Upton wrote.
The Eagles will now take a five-week break from competition, and will return to action on January 10th at the University of Tampa (Fla.) at 3 p.m.
–By Elizabeth Weinstein and Alex del Re
