The Emory women’s swimming and diving team emerged victorious while the men’s team came up short at a swim meet at Delta State University (Miss.) in Cleveland Jan. 20.

Emory’s women took home a victory in tri-meet, topping the Delta State Statesmen 163.0-136.0 and the University of West Florida Argonauts 168.0-132.0. Squaring off only against Delta State, the men were bested at the hands of the Statesmen, 170.5-123.5.

Saturday’s meet came on the heels of a three-week winter training trip, where the team spent two weeks on campus and traveled to Florida to train for the homestretch of the season.

Head Coach Jon Howell emphasized the importance of the training, explaining that it allowed the team to focus on swimming.

“Our training trip is an opportunity for us to act as professional athletes,” Howell said. “The team doesn’t have to worry about balancing school and the stresses of college life.”

In a total of 16 events, the women’s team recorded four first-place finishes and seven second-place finishes. Seniors Cindy Cheng and Rebecca Upton along with freshman Bethany Seagraves led the squad’s individual efforts, claiming first in their respective events.

Upton was the first swimmer to touch in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:08.3. With the race close throughout, Upton clinched a tightly contested victory.

“It was a really tight race, and it was really neck and neck for about half of it,” Upton said. “The race got very tight at the end of the race as well, and I only out-touched the [West Florida] swimmer by two-hundredths of a second.”

Cheng was the first to finish in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 57.13, and Seagraves led the pack in the 200 yard backstroke 2:07.40.

Emory also notched a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Cheng, juniors Fiona Muir and Meg Taylor and sophomore Caroline Olson all contributed to a time of 1:38.03.

Despite four first-place and 10 second-place finishes, the men’s team came up short against Delta State. Securing individual victories, senior Oliver Smith in the 50-yard freestyle, junior Matt Rogers in the 200-yard freestyle and freshman Sven Mesihovic in the 400-yard IM delivered the team’s best performances.

The meet was one week after the team’s workout-filled training trip. Smith said that the training trip provided crucial preparation for the remainder of the season.

“The team puts in a lot of hard work during our training trip to approach the end of our season,” Smith said. “I’m normally pretty broken down after, so to go the time I did after the training trip, I was happy with it.”

Howell noted that the team rebounded from the trip and performed well, despite the intensity of the training.

“Coming off of our winter training trip, everybody on the team is still tired,” Howell said. “Given all the circumstances we were able to stay poised and do a nice job.”

The 200-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Smith, seniors Alexander Hardwick and Aaron Schwartz and sophomore Sage Ono also posted one of Emory’s four first-place finishes with a time of 1:23.74.

Smith reflected on the challenge of facing Division II opponents and how it affected the team’s approach to the meet.

“We faced [Delta State] last year and they were really tough, so we expected another challenging meet,” Smith said. “Going up against a school that is a division higher than what you normally go up against gives you a level of racing you don’t normally get in Division III.”

In their next meet, the Eagles will travel to take on Atlanta rival Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) Jan. 27. Georgia Tech provides a unique challenge to the Emory swimming and diving teams each year, giving the Eagles the opportunity to vie with Division I athletes.

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