For the fourth-consecutive year and sixth time in the program's history, the Emory University Women's Swimming and Diving team has claimed the National Team Title, winning the 2013 NCAA Division III Championships in Shenandoah, Texas.
The women ran away with the meet on the final day, finishing with 619 points to best second-place Kenyon College (483 points) and third-place Denison University (363 points).
Emory has now claimed six NCAA Division III Women's Swimming and Diving Championships (2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013) and 15 overall in the history of Emory Athletics. Women's Swimming and Diving's sixth title surpassed Women's Tennis (five) for the most in the program, while Men's Tennis has won three, and Volleyball one.
The Eagles saved the best for last in the meet, winning the National Championship in the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, in an NCAA Division III-record time of 3:21.28, besting the previous mark set by Denison in 2009 by an incredible .71 seconds. It marked the second NCAA Championship of the meet for each of the four participants – senior Renee Rosenkranz, sophomore Nancy Larson, senior Ann Wolber and senior Anna Dobben – who won the Division III Title in the 200-yard freestyle relay on Thursday.
The win in the 400-yard freestyle relay gave the Eagles the 13th relay championship in the history of the women's program, and marked the fourth-straight year Emory has won the event. Wolber will end her Emory career with six National Championships, while Rosenkranz and Dobben each have four, and Larson two.
Sophomore McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg started off the final night for Emory with an all-America finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle, claiming sixth-place with a time of 16:58.71, while junior Courtney McDermott added a seventh-place finish in a time of 16:58.96. Earning an all-America honorable mention was freshman Mikayla Carnley, who finished ninth with a time of 17:03.75.
Three additional Eagles added all-America honors in the 100-yard freestyle, with Dobben claiming fourth place (50.41 seconds in the preliminaries), Rosenkranz fifth (50.58 seconds in the preliminaries) and Larson sixth (50.89 seconds).
In the 200-yard backstroke, junior Sadie Nennig earned an all-America honor for the third-straight year, finishing fifth with a time of 1:59.21 in the preliminaries for her 11th career certificate. Meanwhile, senior Taryn Lushinsky capped off her Emory career with her fifth all-America honor, finishing eighth after swimming a preliminary time of 2:00.04.
Emory also placed well in the 200-yard breaststroke, with five scorers in the event. Included in the group were three all-Americans - junior Kylie McKenzie in sixth place (2:16.61 preliminaries), sophomore Megan Beach in seventh place (2:18.37 preliminaries), and junior Brooke Woodward in eighth place (2:18.53 in the preliminaries) — and two honorable mentions — freshman Elizabeth Aronoff in ninth place (2:17.53) and senior Mia Michalak in 12th place (2:19.60).
The Emory women finished the meet with National Championships in the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays, in addition to 26 individual all-America certificates, five relay all-America performances, and 15 individual honorable mention finishes. Emory's men, who finished fifth in the men's standings, picked up a National Championship in the 200-yard butterfly from senior Miller Douglas, in addition to eight individual all-America honors, seven individual honorable mentions, four all-American relays, and one honorable mention relay.
The meet concludes the 2012-13 season for the Eagles.