The Emory University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams extended their dominant University Athletic Association (UAA) title streak to 26 consecutive years on Feb. 15, but it took gritty individual and team efforts along the way.
After a relatively underwhelming first night of competition, the men’s team found themselves in fourth place but ended the meet almost 100 points ahead of second-place New York University (NYU). The women’s team entered the final day of the meet trailing NYU by 18 points, but rallied to outscore them by 21 points, the smallest margin of victory in UAA Championship history.
Men’s team rides upperclassman leadership, strong freshman class to decisive title
Despite entering the meet with a quarter-century-long championship streak, the Emory men’s swim and dive team knew that they would have to earn the UAA title. Senior swimmer and UAA record holder Jeff Echols said the team used the heightened conference competition this season as motivation.
“This year especially, on both the men's and women's sides, we knew that the meet was going to be close between us and NYU and the University of Chicago,” Echols said. “We’ve known that all season so that really fueled us to come together as a team and work especially hard, especially the last couple of months leading up to the meet.”
Freshman diver Solly Berkenwald won the first event title of the meet, taking the 1-meter springboard win by almost 40 points. Later in the meet, Berkenwald clinched the 3-meter springboard title as well, this time by a margin of almost 100 points. Berkenwald was named UAA Diver of the Year, and Emory’s diving coach Tomasz Rossa earned the men’s Diving Coach of the Year.
Echols, freshmen swimmers Zachary Spicer and Colin Zexter, and junior swimmer Henri Bonnault took first place in the 400-yard medley relay. Later in the meet, senior swimmers Nolan Lahmann and Dylan Yin worked alongside Bonnault and Echols to win the 200-yard medley relay.
The Eagles also claimed podium finishes in both the 200-yard and 800-yard freestyle relays, and freshman swimmer Ben Pritchard won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:24.61, just 0.27 seconds from the UAA record. On the final day of the meet, Pritchard placed second in the 1,650-yard freestyle, securing decisive points for the Eagles. Pritchard cited the importance of preparation for his distance swim success.
“It's really important to do those long sets in practice and put the work in,” Pritchard said. “That way you can go into the race on the final day of the meet, when you’re really beaten down, and you can go into it thinking, ‘I can do this because I put in all this work at practice,’ and at that point, it just comes down to executing it.”
Sophomore swimmer McKee Thorsen also came up big for the Eagles, winning the 200-yard freestyle. Following Thorsen’s win, Emory shifted the tide of the meet when Bonnault and senior swimmer Liyang Sun finished one second apart to take first and second place in the 100-yard breaststroke, shifting the tide of the competition. Sun also won the 200-yard breaststroke later in the meet.
After another historic conference championship, Pritchard said the Eagles will shift their focus to preparing for the NCAA Championship.
“We're going to celebrate this for the next few days and then it's time to start preparing for nationals in about a month,” Pritchard said.
Maddy Lu (left) and Katie Cohen (right) race toward encouraging teammates in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Women’s team rely on each other to capture 21 All-UAA finishes
Every race was significant for the women’s team, and every swimmer and diver played a part in keeping the streak alive. The Eagles racked up 21 All-UAA swims and four first-place finishes throughout the four-day meet, which wasn’t decided until the very last relay. Sophomore swimmer Katie Cohen said that heading into the final day, the team was “definitely nervous,” but they knew they had the support behind them to win.
“We knew from the beginning of the meet that it was going to be close, and we had so many people there to support us that we knew if we just got behind every swim, we could pull through,” Cohen said. “We had the home pool advantage, so I think that really carried us through.”
The Eagles kicked off the meet with second-place finishes in both the 800-yard and 200-yard freestyle relays. The 800-yard relay team made up of freshman swimmers Elodie Mitchell and Louisa Wendt, sophomore swimmer Katie Swan and graduate swimmer Penelope Helm was bested by a UAA record-breaking NYU relay. The 200-yard relay team with senior swimmer Ava Kennedy, freshman swimmer Caitlin Crysel, sophomore swimmer Natalie Boorjian and Wendt swam a time of 1:32.61, 0.27 seconds shy of first place.
The team earned their first event win of the meet in the 200-yard individual medley when Crysel swam a time of 2:02.62. She would later join three of her teammates, graduate swimmer Megan Jungers, Cohen and Kennedy, to claim her second event win in the 200-yard medley relay.
The Eagles entered the third day of the meet with only a 22-point lead, so the team could not let their foot off the gas. Cohen took first place in the 100-yard breaststroke, and her time of 1:02.47 was 0.05 seconds off of the UAA record. The very next event, the 100-yard backstroke, featured two Eagles on the podium. Jungers and junior swimmer Penny Celtnieks finished second and third, respectively, to secure vital points for Emory.
Even after a plethora of All-UAA finishes, the Eagles found themselves trailing NYU by an 18-point margin going into the final day. Senior swimmer Jada Chatoor was the first to podium for the Eagles on Saturday, turning in a second-place 16:55.83 time in the 1,650-yard freestyle. In the 100-yard freestyle, the Eagles relied on their depth to take four of the race’s top six spots, helping Emory take a 67-point lead with three events remaining.
The fourth and final event win for the Eagles came again from Cohen. She swept all the breaststroke events at the meet, including a UAA record-breaking swim of 2:15.38 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Freshmen swimmers Maddy Lu and Sophia Joos followed close behind for second and fourth place, respectively. Cohen credited her teammates for her success in her races.
“I was swimming with my two ‘Breagles,’” Cohen said. “We call them the ‘Breagles,’ the breaststroke Eagles, my two teammates I train with every day. … Swimming with them was really awesome and helped me accomplish what I did.”
Even with a 23-point lead going into the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Eagles were not in the clear, with NYU following close behind in the standings. However, the relay team of Crysel, Wendt, Kennedy and Helm touched second and helped the Eagles clinch the UAA championship.
“We knew once the relay was over that we won, so we were super excited,” Cohen said. “We did our ‘It’s great to be an Emory Eagle’ cheer, which we do anytime someone wins so that was super exciting and fun to do.”
The Eagles will now set their sights on the NCAA DIII Swimming & Diving Championships, which will take place from March 19 to 22 in Greensboro, N.C.
Justin Guo (he/him) (25Ox, 27C) is double majoring in Biology and Film and Media on the pre-med track. He is from Cupertino, California and loves the San Francisco Giants and 49ers. He enjoys talking movies, traveling and swimming! His favorite thing to do in Atlanta is thrift at Little Five Points.
