An Eagle swims in a freestyle race. The Emory women split up to travel to top-ranked Division I University of Georgia and Sewanee: University of the South (Tenn.) last Saturday. After a week of rest, the team will host the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships. / Courtesy of Emory Athletics
The Emory women’s swimming team split up with two simultaneous meets last Saturday, securing a win against Sewanee: the University of the South (Tenn.), but falling to defeat the top-ranked Division I University of Georgia.
The Emory women lost 163-127 to the Georgia Bulldogs, but won 138 to 128 against the Sewanee Tigers.
“We made an unusual decision to split up the team,” Head Coach Jon Howell said. “It worked out well, and I was happy with how both meets went with some great performances in both meets.”
At UGA, senior McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg had a strong performance, notching two ‘B’ cut times with a third-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (2:07.52) and a fourth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:02.04). She also secured the fastest 1,000-yard freestyle time of the year by an Eagle, finishing third in the event with a time of 10:17.81.
Freshman Ming Ong also had a standout performance in Athens. She secured three NCAA ‘B’ cut times with a third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (2:06.19) and a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (57.25 seconds) and 400-yard individual medley (4:31.13).
“It’s scary being a freshman competing against some of the best swimmers in the country,” sophomore Claire Liu said. “I was really impressed by how Ming raced. She wasn’t intimidated and even beat out a lot of the UGA swimmers.”
Another standout freshman was Cindy Cheng, who notched two qualifying marks with a fourth place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (56.83 seconds) and a third place finish in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:05.27.
Several other athletes achieved ‘B’ cut times as well: Sophomore Annelise Kowalsky in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.33 received second place; junior Elizabeth Aronoff had a time of 2:22.76 in the 200-yard breaststroke and also came in second place; the Eagles’ 200-yard medley relay team of Liu, Kowalsky, sophomore Marcela Sanchez-Aizcorbe and senior Nancy Larson came in third place with a time of 1:45.29; junior Kellen Hope contributed with an NCAA qualifying score of 276.68 in the one-meter dive, finishing second in the event.
“Even though we lost, the meet was fun,” Kowalsky said. “It’s interesting to be able to compete against such high-tier swimmers. It was senior day, so a lot of the UGA seniors came out and cheered and added a lot of energy to the event.”
At Sewanee, the women had a strong showing with junior Mikayla Carnley placing first in three events: the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:46.33, the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:14.00 and the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.05. Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan also won multiple events, including the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.95 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.18 seconds.
The Eagles swept both of the Sewanee Tigers’ relays. The team of freshmen Sia Beasley and Megan Campbell, sophomore Kristine Rosenberger and Brosnahan won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:51.56.
Meanwhile, freshmen Kike Afolabi-Brown and Alexandra Brown, Rosenberger and Brosnahan finished first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.08.
Emory will have a week off to rest before hosting the 2015 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships at the Woodruff Physical Education Center (WoodPEC), from Feb. 11 to 14.
— By Jacob Spitzer, Staff Writer
