University Athletic Association Championships, Day Four

ROCHESTER, New York, February 19. THE Emory University swimming and diving teams capped off an impressive four-day stand at the 2011 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships on Saturday, as both the men and women left Rochester with their 13th-consecutive conference titles.

The Emory men finished the meet with 1,981 points, the most ever points scored on the men's side of the conference meet. The Eagles finished well ahead of second-place Carnegie Mellon University (1214.5 points) and third-place Chicago (1158 points).

The Emory women broke their previous conference record with 2,144.5 points scored during the championships. Finishing second was Chicago with 1,277.5 points, followed by Carnegie Mellon with 1110 points.

Emory also raked in a number of individual UAA awards during the meet. Emory senior Liz Horvat became just the third swimmer since 2000 to repeat as the UAA's Women's Swimmer of the Year, winning the award for the second-straight year. Horvat continued her impressive meet on Saturday, winning the 1,650-yard freestyle with a NCAA ‘A' cut time of 16:53.88. It caps off an incredible UAA career for the senior, who has won the three distance events – 500 Free, 1,650 Free and 400 IM – at every conference championship during her four years on the team. She also added two UAA Championships as part of Emory's 800-yard freestyle relay, including one earlier in this year's meet.

Senior Matt Spooner became Emory's first Men's Swimmer of the Year since 2000 (Jeff Klug) and just the sixth overall, after setting a UAA record in the 400-yard individual medley, in addition to winning the 200-yard individual medley with an ‘A' cut time.

Also honored were freshman Ross Spock and junior Daniel Kolb. Spock became the first Emory men's swimmer to be named Rookie of the Year since 2009, after setting UAA records as part of four relays, and finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard freestyle. Kolb was named the UAA Men's Diver of the Year, after winning both the one- and three-meter diving events with NCAA qualifying scores.

In addition, Emory's coaching staff, led by head coach John Howell, was named the UAA's Women's Coaching Staff of the Year for the sixth time, while diving coach Alex Kossenkov was named the UAA Men's Diving Coach of the Year for the second time.

Freshman diver Sarah Greene started the day on a positive note for the Eagles, earning all-UAA honors in the one-meter dive with a school-record and NCAA qualifying score of 457.65. Her score broke the previous Emory 11-dive record off the one-meter board of 409.15 points, set by Christine Cook during the 2000 UAA Championships.

The Emory men also received a strong start to the day, as junior Paul Weinstein won the 1,650-yard freestyle in a UAA-record time of 15:37.60. On the women's side, close behind Horvat in the women's 1,650-yard freestyle was freshman Courtney McDermott, who finished third in the event with an ‘A' cut time of 17:10.63 to earned all-UAA honors.

Sophomore Jackie Schneider set her second UAA record of the meet, swimming an ‘A' cut time of 2:02.38 in the preliminaries of the backstroke, eventually winning the event in the finals. Freshman Sadie Nennig finished right behind her, claiming all-UAA honors with a second-place finish in a time of 2:03.59. The Emory men also claimed the top-two spots in the 200-yard backstroke, as freshman Darrell Eacret won the event with a time of 1:52.40 (1:51.24 in the preliminaries), while junior Jared Dubnow claimed second in a time of 1:52.49 to earn all-UAA honors.

Emory swimmers swept the all-UAA honors in the women's 100-yard freestyle, with Claire Pavlak winning the event (51.29 seconds), sophomore Renee Rosenkranz finishing second (51.94 seconds), and sophomore Ann Wolber finishing third (52.09 seconds). In the men's 100-yard freestyle, junior Sean Ransenberg finished second with a time of 45.95 seconds, while freshman Ross Spock finished third with a time of 46.27 seconds.

Yet another record fell to an Emory swimmer in the women's 200-yard breaststroke, as senior April Whitley won the event and broke her own conference-record time with a mark of 2:16.19, while senior Katie Mroz finished second with a time of 2:19.52. For Whitley, it was her second conference-record set during the meet, after breaking the UAA mark in the 100-yard breaststroke on Friday. Sophomore Peter O'Brien won the men's side of the event with a time of 2:04.67, while sophomore Justin Beegle finished second with a time of 2:04.97.

In the 200-yard butterfly, freshman Laura Manor claimed another conference record for the Eagles with a time of 2:02.96, an ‘A' cut and the third-fastest time in Emory history. Junior Patrick Augustyn earned all-UAA honors in the men's 200-yard butterfly with a second-place finish (1:50.96).

The Eagles rounded off the meet with a pair of record-setting performances, as the women's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Rosenkranz, freshman Suzanne Lemberg, Wolber and Pavlak won the race in a UAA-record time of 3:26.73, good for an ‘A' cut time, while the men's team of Ransenberg, Spock, senior Justin Leemis and freshman Ryan Bass won the event in a record time of 3:02.05 as well.

Emory swimmers finished the four-day conference championships with a combined 18 UAA records, 30 conference championships, and 60 all-UAA honors between the men's and women's teams.

The Eagles will now turn their attention towards preparing for the NCAA Division III Championships in Knoxville, TN, starting March 23rd, but will first send a selected group of swimmers to the UGA Last Chance Meet in Athens, GA on February 26th and 27th.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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