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Emory swimming and diving teams win 23rd-consecutive UAA championships

The Emory University women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams continue their reigns as University Athletic Association champions after winning the conference titles Saturday at the 34th-annual championship meet.

This is the 23rd-consecutive UAA title and 29th-overall for the women’s team and the 23rd-consecutive championship for the men’s team.

Emory’s coaching staff — head coach Jon Howell and assistants Cindy Fontana, John Petroff and Bob Hackett — took honors of their own as the Women's Coaching Staff of the Year and co-winners of the Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year. Howell and his staff have now earned the women’s award 12 times and the men’s award six times.

In addition, interim diving coach Matt Rohrer was recognized as the conference’s Diving Coach of the Year.

Women’s swimming and diving

The Eagles won the women’s team title with a total of 2,128 team points across four days of competition, the most in a UAA meet since 2011 and the second-most points in a single meet in team history. Second-place University of Chicago finished with 1,559 points and New York University was third at 1,421.5, the only schools to score more than 1,000 points at the meet.

The Eagles finished with a total of 14 event titles and tallied 34 All-UAA performances. In addition, Emory set UAA meet records in seven different events.

Senior Taylor Leone was honored as the Women’s Swimmer of the Year. She finished as the runner-up in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 50.67 and helped capture the 400 Freestyle Relay crown with Sammie Kass, Caroline Maki and Cailen Chinn with a time of 3:23.27.

Leone also was a conference champion in six of the seven events she competed in and rewrote the UAA record book in five of those events: 50 Freestyle, 100 Fly, 200 Freestyle Relay, 200 Medley Relay and 400 Medley Relay.

Other standouts included sophomore Megan Jungers setting the UAA record in the 200 Backstroke with the only sub-2:00 time in the championship final (1:57.66).

The win helped put a stamp on Jungers receiving the Women’s Sophomore Rookie of the Year, an award given to an athlete who missed out on competing during their true freshman season due to COVID-19. To go along with her 200 Backstroke victory, Jungers was a runner-up in the 100 Fly and 100 Backstroke and helped set UAA records in the 200 and 400 Medley Relays.

Maki and sophomore Fiona Arwood added to the team's wins with Maki besting Leone in the 100 Freestyle with a winning mark of 50.40 and Arwood following suit in the 200 Breaststroke (2:16.97). First-year student Jada Chatoor earned All-UAA honors with a third-place finish in the 1650 Freestyle (17:11.69). The Eagles totaled seven more All-UAA swims on Saturday as Emory went 1-2-3 in the 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle and 200 Breaststroke.

Junior Savannah Sowards (2:01.38) and sophomore Leaya Ma (2:01.58) placed second and third in the 200 Backstroke; senior Edie Bates (2:18.39) and junior Sarah Byers (2:18.89) won silver and bronze in the 200 Breaststroke. Kass placed third in the 100 Freestyle (50.73), as did senior Allie Dixon in the 200 Fly (2:02.87).

Men’s swimming and diving

The Emory’s men’s swimming and diving team claimed nine event titles during the three-day championship. They posted 1,807 points as a team, more than 280 points better than second-place Chicago. The Eagles racked up 22 All-UAA performances and established three UAA meet records.

Junior Lucas Bumgarner won the 1-meter event with a finals score of 521.25, marking the fifth UAA title of his career. He also was honored as the UAA Diver of the Year for the third-straight meet.

Senior Jason Hamilton secured his first-ever UAA title, earning the top spot in the 200 Breaststroke with a winning time of 1:57.82.

The Eagles concluded competition with a stellar performance as juniors Pat Pema and Colin LaFave teamed with sophomores Logan D’Amore and Nicholas Goudie to set the UAA record in the 400 Freestyle Relay with a time of 2:58.31. The race was highlighted by blistering splits by D'Amore and Goudie as Emory erased Carnegie Mellon’s lead to win.

In addition to the three event championships, the Eagles saw All-UAA efforts from junior Lawrence Redmond in the 200 Backstroke (third place, 1:47.89), Goudie (second place, 44.47) and Pema (third place, 1:59.65) in the 100 Freestyle and first-year student Jeff Echols in the 200 Fly (second place, 1:48.41).

The second-place showing from Echols enabled him to capture Men’s Rookie of the Year honors, the first Eagle to win the award since Sage Ono in 2017. Echols was fourth in the 100 Fly, 15th in the 200 IM and was part of Emory’s B relays that finished ninth and tenth in the 200 Medley and 800 Freestyle.

Both Emory teams are back in the pool next weekend with the Royal Open as one last tune-up before next month’s NCAA Championships.


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