By Stephen Jaber
Staff Writer
The Emory men's and women's swimming and diving teams added another victory to their campaigns on Saturday with wins over Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). The women's team also defeated Brenau University (Ga.) at the meet.
The men improved their record to 2-1, while the women continued their undefeated streak at 4-0. The men defeated SCAD 153-106 while the women outclassed SCAD 178-79. The women Eagles triumphed over Brenau 184-66.
The energy at the meet surely aided the Eagles as the women placed first in 13 of their 14 events. The men, meanwhile, won eight of their 14 events.
In all four of the relay events the women's team swept the competition. Sophomores Annelise Kowalsky, Claire Liu, Kristine Rosenberger and senior Nancy Larson claimed the 200-yard medley at a time of 1:47.12. The 400-yard medley was won by a team consisting of Liu, Larson, sophomore Marissa Bergh and freshman Julia Wawer at a time of 3:33.20. It's clear that the Eagles were prepared for the meet.
"We are in the middle of training very hard for our [Miami University (Ohio) invitational] in December," Kowalsky said, "We ended up beating them more than we would have. We've been training harder this year than last year, and how well we've done is very exciting for the Miami meet."
The individual events were also dominated by the Emory women with five NCAA 'B' cut efforts being made at the meet. Kowalsky won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.24) and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:06.95. Junior Ellie Thompson took the best time in the 200-yard backstroke (2.04.65), Liu placed first in the 100-yard backstroke (56.94) and freshman Ming Ong received a second place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:07.39.
The Eagles had faced SCAD before, and the team swam "good races, especially in the 500 yard [categories]," Kowalsky said.
Another notable win for the women came from sophomore Marcela Sanchez-Aizcorbe who added wins in the 100-yard butterfly (58.87) and the 200-yard butterfly (2:09.26). Senior Megan Beach added a win in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of (2.26.65) and senior McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg swept the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:25.01. Freshman Cindy Cheng completed the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.28, and Bergh completed the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.35. Larson won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.85 seconds. The men's team proved strong as well.
"SCAD isn't our most competitive team, so a lot of kids on our team swam events they don't usually swim," sophomore David Tao said. "We were able to train hard and still compete; that was our mentality."
Although Emory seemingly dominated the meet, the men saw losses in the 1000-yard freestyle and the 50-yard freestyle, both of which were won by SCAD sophomore Joel Ax with times of 9:37.77 and 21.23, respectively.
"They won the 1000-yard freestyle which was surprising, the 50-yard freestyle was also competitive," Tao added.
For the men, sophomore Mitchell Cooper, junior Andrew Wilson, senior Hayden Baker and freshman Oliver Smith won the 200-yard medley with a time of 1:33.58. Smith, junior Matt Kuhlik, freshmen Alexander Hardwick and Wes Duke won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:07.44.
In terms of individual events, Tao noted that the team is looking to improve before the Miami Invitational.
"We want to qualify our times in individual and relay events, so our first goal for the Miami meet is to get the times up to qualify for nationals," he said.
Tao was quick to point out the team's opportunity to face rival Denison University (Ohio) at the Miami meet.
"We race against Denison, they are our biggest competitors so we look forward to laying down some fast times and seeing what we can do there," he said.
Individual events fared well for the team with Baker and Wilson winning events at the meet. Baker won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:54.61 and the 100-yard butterfly (50.60). Wilson won a pair of events as well, the 100-yard backstroke (56.38) and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:55.16. Wilson's 100-yard backstroke was the only Emory men's NCAA 'B' cut time of the meet.
More individual men's team wins came from senior Eric Ruggieri in the 200-yard backstroke (2:07.27) and sophomore Christian Baker in the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.69). Hardwick won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.64 seconds.
Four meets in, the Eagles are getting into the grunt stage of the season.
"We are trying to perform really well even though we are tired from training," Kowalsky said.
The Eagles will rest until they travel to Oxford, Ohio to compete in the Miami Invitational on Dec. 4 for their final meet of 2014.
– By Stephen Jaber, Staff Writer
Women Improve to 4-0, Men to 2-1 on Season
Jason Oh/Staff
Members of the Emory women's swimming team wait in anticipation of the starting beep. The men's team defeated the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), while the women's team defeated both SCAD and Brenau University (Ga.) last Saturday. | Photo by Jason Oh/Staff.
