The Emory men’s and women’s swimming and diving team kicked off the Arena Pro Swim Series last Thursday, Jan. 15. The meet was hosted by the University of Texas at Austin and featured some of the top swimmers in the country.
At the meet, which was long-course, or measured in meters, the Eagles competed against both collegiate and non-collegiate athletes for a chance to qualify for the Olympic Trials. Junior Andrew Wilson and senior Hayden Baker both qualified for the finals of their respective events during day one of competition. While Wilson took 14th in the finals of the 200-meter breaststroke (2:20.90), Baker went on to finish 24th in the 100-meter butterfly (53.69).
“Going into this series we expected it to be a challenge,” Wilson said, “and I think we handled that well.”
On the women’s side, junior Elizabeth Aronoff claimed 45th in the 200-meter breaststroke preliminaries (2:43.24), while senior McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg finished 57th in the 400-meter freestyle (4:30.79). Senior Nancy Larson earned 70th in the 100-meter freestyle (59.68) with sophomore Claire Liu finishing close behind at 76th place (59.84)
The second day at Austin ended with junior Ellie Thompson reaching the finals in the 200-meter backstroke and finishing 29th. For the men’s side, sophomore Christian Baker was able to qualify for the finals in the 200-meter freestyle and claimed 23rd.
The Lady Eagles took part in two other preliminary events on Friday. Senior Nancy Larson finished 75th in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 2:09.31 and was also a top finisher in the 50-yard freestyle, claiming 55th.
On the men’s side, sophomore Mitchell Cooper placed 35th in the 400-meter individual medley while Hayden Baker finished 56th in the 50-meter freestyle.
“It was such a great opportunity to see the top of the field in swimming learn from their racing technique, and get a chance to swim in that kind of environment,” Larson said.
The Eagles ended the meet on Saturday with a sequence of strong performances.
Wilson took fifth place in the finals of the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:02.51 — a time good enough for an Olympic Trials qualifying mark.
“I think it was good for the team to get our name out on the national scene and to challenge ourselves by competing against swimmers that swim at a higher level that we are used to,” Wilson said.
Cooper and Baker finished 22nd and 26th in the 1,500-meter freestyle, respectively, while senior Eric Ruggieri claimed a 40th-place finish in the 100-meter breaststroke.
For the women, Newsum-Schoenberg took 31st in the 200-meter butterfly and 37th in the 800-meter freestyle. Aronoff finished 37th in the 100-meter breaststroke and 75th in the 200-meter individual medley, while Larson claimed 43rd in the 200-meter individual medley. Thompson placed 29th in the 100-meter backstroke with Liu taking 59th in the same series.
“All in all, we moved forward as a team by going to this meet and establishing our presence in swimming outside of Division III,” Larson said in regards to the series.
The Eagles swimming and diving teams return to action next weekend, when the Eagles host Darton State College (Ga.) and the University of West Florida on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m. in the Woodruff Physical Education Center.
— By Jenny Nutovits, Staff Writer
Swimmers Impress at Long-Course Texas Meet
Senior McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg swims the butterfly stroke. She took 31st place in the 200-meter butterfly last Thursday at the Arena Pro Swim Series, competing against swimmers of all levels. Photo courtesy of Emory Athletics.
