The Emory men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams prevailed in the University Athletic Association (UAA) championship for the 21st consecutive year at a four-day meet held at the University of Chicago from Feb. 13 to 16.
The men’s team received 1,848 total points and the women’s team received 1,943 points. They placed 393 and 458 points above second place, respectively.
Freshman diver Lucas Bumgarner (22C) won the UAA Diver of the Year award. The last time an Emory diver won the title was in 2011.
“Coming in, freshman year … I was just trying to go out there and do my best,” Bumgarner said. “It ended up going really well and I really couldn’t have asked for anything else.”
Senior swimmer Fiona Muir was named UAA Swimmer of the Year and set a UAA record for her 100-yard freestyle time of 50.12. Muir is the first UAA female athlete to win the 100-yard freestyle at the championship meet for four consecutive years. She was also a part of four relay teams that won titles: the 400-yard medley (3:44.97), 200-yard freestyle (1:33.04), 800-yard freestyle (7:27.54) and 400-yard freestyle (3:23.27).
Head Coach Jon Howell and his staff were named UAA’s Coaching Staff of the Year. This year marks the fifth time Howell has received the award for the men’s team and 11th time for the women’s team.
Swimmers are still awaiting results from other conferences to determine who will advance to the NCAA Championships on March 20 to 23 in Greensboro, N.C. At least 12 male swimmers will advance to the Championships, senior swimmer Trey Kolleck said.
Divers will compete in the NCAA Region Two Diving Championships on March 1 to 2 at Grinnell College (Iowa).
On the men’s side, in the 100-yard freestyle, Kolleck recorded a finals time of 44.70 and set a new UAA standard in the preliminary race with a time of 44.30.
Kolleck, senior Alex Kohlman, junior Sage Ono and freshman Colin LaFave won the 400-yard freestyle relay (2:59.83).
Muir said her team is now preparing for the NCAA Championships.
“We practiced racing this weekend in Chicago and now we start working on technical things,” Muir said. “We get excited. We get rested and it’s more focused training leading up to that big meet.”
Former Executive Editor | Richard Chess (20C) served as the Wheel's executive editor from March 2018 to August 2019. He also held various other positions at the Wheel including as news editor and senior editor. As news editor, Richard covered issues related to the city of Atlanta and reported that the 2016 Migos scandal cost Emory $37,500. Richard has received numerous collegiate journalism awards for his investigative and objective news coverage, including an SPJ Mark of Excellence Award in 2019.
