The Emory men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams failed to rise to the challenge against the University of Georgia Bulldogs in a Feb. 2 dual meet. The Bulldogs defeated the men’s team 166.5-117.5 and the women’s team 167-93.
Despite the losses, the Eagle’s weekend was still marked with some stellar performances.
On the men’s side, senior Thomas Gordon swam a season-best time of 15:29.49 in the 1,650-meter freestyle. Senior Trey Kolleck finished third in both the 50-yard freestyle (20.60) and the 100-yard freestyle (45.30). Kolleck also led freshmen Colin LaFave, Tyler Russell and Hwa Min Sim to a third-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:31.67). Russell also placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 58.47.
Other top finishes included a third-place in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.63) by freshman Zach Lorson, a third-place in the 200-yard individual medley (1:55.97) by senior Zachary Chen and a joint effort second-place by Kolleck, LaFave, senior Matt Rogers and junior Sage Ono in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:23.16). Junior Trevor Burke and freshmen Lucas Bumgarner and Colin Stelmach all recorded NCAA qualifying marks in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
In the women’s events, senior Meg Taylor placed third in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.20. Taylor also teamed up with senior Fiona Muir, sophomore Lucy Daro and junior Caroline Olson for a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay, touching the wall at 1:36.56. Finally, freshman Clio Hancock finished third and turned in a national-qualifying mark in the 200-yard butterfly (2:05.62).
“We had a great meet at UGA,” Hancock said. “I was really excited by the times and races that everyone had this weekend. … I am super excited to see what the team can do in the next couple of weekends with [the UAA] conference coming up.”
Head Coach Jon Howell knew the meet was going to be challenging, but he recognized that facing a tough opponent such as UGA would be valuable experience.
“The meet this weekend is the third in a series of very different meets,” Howell said. “Each is challenging in unique ways, and our objective is to be able to compete at our best, in any environment and under any set of circumstances… We always look forward to racing UGA.”
Although Emory did not come out on top, they certainly had an impressive showing. The Eagles will return to the pool on Friday against Auburn University (Ala.).
