Last Saturday at the WoodPEC, Emory’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving team pulled off victories against Division II’s Delta State University (Miss.) and University of West Florida (Fla.), in their final home meet of the season. In honor of their last home meet, 11 graduating seniors were recognized in a ceremony prior to its inception.
“Going into our last home meet, I realized Emory has provided us with really great opportunities to succeed in the pool as well as in the classroom,” senior and women’s team captain Annelise Kowalsky said. “I am really grateful for all of the lessons that athletics at Emory has taught me.”
The women’s team recorded victories over both Delta State and West Florida, posting 202-96 and 170-128 respectively. The afternoon was led by junior Cindy Cheng, sophomore Fiona Muir and senior Annelise Kowalsky who each took home two individual event victories. Cheng touched first in both the 100 and 200 backstroke, swimming times of 55.45 and 2:02.25. Muir dominated the freestyle events, finishing with 51.87 in the 100 and 1:52.46 in the 200. Meanwhile, Kowalsky swept the backstroke events as she pulled off a time of 1:04.50 in the 100 and 2:20.75 in the 200. All times qualified as NCAA B Cuts. Without skipping a beat, Cheng, Kowalsky and Muir teamed up with senior Marissa Bergh to swim another first place NCAA qualifying time of 1:44.91 in the 200 medley relay.
“I was really happy with the times. I’ve been working on my technique for my breastroke so it felt good,” Kowalsky said. “We all definitely still have some work to do going forward. This meet was a good stepping stone but the ultimate goal is to finish this season strong.”
Senior Claire Liu out-swam her competition in the 50 freestyle, finishing first with a time of 23.96. Also swimming that afternoon was senior Marcela Sanchez-Aizcorbe, claiming first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.02. The girls ended the tri-meet on top with Sanchez-Aizcorbe and Bergh along with freshman Caroline Olson and sophomore Meg Taylor coming away with first place in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome swam a time of 1:36.46 to win the event.
The men went head-to-head with Delta State, claiming 11 event victories and ending with a score of 177-121. Winning the first event of the meet, senior Andrew Wilson, freshman Sage Ono and juniors Cooper Tollen and Oliver Smith touched first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:30.67, a NCAA qualifying mark. Wilson added two more NCAA B cut times to his record, taking first in the 100 and 200 breastroke, swimming 54.44 and 2:00.27 respectively. Ono also landed two individual event victories in both backstroke events, swimming 50.00 in the 100 (a NCAA B cut time) and 1:51.50 in the 200. Smith earned a NCAA B cut time and a first-place finish in the 50 freestyle with a 20.40 time. Another NCAA qualifying time went to the 200 medley relay team consisting of Smith, sophomore Trey Kolleck, senior Hayes-Burdette Sapp and junior Alexander Hardwick. The team touched first with a time of 1:22.50. Freshman Trevor Burke also dove a qualifying mark of 442.15 points in the 1-meter, 11 dive competition.
Both teams are set to compete next Saturday, Jan. 28 at the University of Georgia. This will be the swimming and diving team’s last dual meet of the season.
