University Athletic Association Championships, Day Two

ROCHESTER, New York, February 17. BOTH the Emory men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams took control of the standings at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships on Thursday, as each of the Eagles’ squads ended the second day of competition in first place.

The Emory women scored 683 points during the first day of competition, leading second-place Chicago by 296 points. Emory’s men scored 669 points through the first 12 events, leading second-place Carnegie Mellon (395.5) and third-place Case Western Reserve University (335).

The nationally top-ranked Emory women opened the evening session with a conference record-setting performance in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as sophomore Renee Rosenkranz, freshman Suzanne Lemberg, junior Claire Pavlak and senior Morgan Klinzing won the event in a UAA-record and NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:34.41. The mark bested the previous record, set by Emory’s relay team last year. Also finishing first in the ‘B’ final (and ninth overall) with the second-best time in the event were sophomore Ann Wolber, freshman Jennifer Pak, senior Marie Kim and sophomore Mia Michalak, who recorded a ‘B’ cut time of 1:36.45.

The nationally second-ranked Emory men also set a conference record in the 200-yard freestyle, as sophomore Richard Upton, freshman Ross Spock, junior Sean Ransenberg and freshman Ryan Bass claimed the conference championship in the event with a ‘B’ cut time of 1:22.37.

Senior Liz Horvat claimed her fourth-consecutive UAA Championship in the women’s 500-yard freestyle, breaking her own conference record (set last year) with an ‘A’ cut time of 4:52.65. The Eagles would go on to sweep the all-UAA honors in the event, as freshman Courtney McDermott claimed second with a ‘B’ cut time of 4:59.07, and senior Amy Minowitz finished third with a mark of 4:59.39.

In the men’s 500-yard freestyle, 2009 UAA Rookie of the Year and current junior won his first career conference championship, finishing first in the event with a ‘B’ cut time of 4:33.04. Meanwhile, senior Mark Bernstein earned his first career all-UAA honors, finishing second with a provisional mark of 4:34.53.

Junior Jennifer Aronoff was Emory’s top finisher in the 200-yard individual medley, earning all-UAA honors with a third-place finish and ‘A’ cut time of 2:05.73 in the event. Also swimming an ‘A’ cut time was Michalak, who recorded a time of 2:05.75 for a fourth-place finish.

Senior Matt Spooner came just a hundredth of a second away from tying the UAA record in the 200-yard individual medley with an ‘A’ cut time of 1:51.90 to win his first-career conference championship. Sophomore Peter O’Brien also earned all-UAA honors with a second-place finish in the event, swimming a ‘B’ cut time of 1:52.55.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Pavlak won her first-career individual UAA Championship, finishing first with a time of 23.63 seconds, while Rosenkranz earned all-UAA honors with a second-place finish and a time of 23.82 seconds. Bass would take home the championship honors on the men’s side of the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.45 seconds (two-hundredths of a second off an ‘A’ cut time), while Spock took second in a mark of 20.93.

The Emory women’s 400-yard medley relay team capped off the day with another conference record, as freshman Sadie Nennig, senior April Whitley, Kim and Pavlak won the event with an ‘A’ cut time of 3:49.06, more than three seconds better than the previous record time, set by Emory in 2005. Emory’s ‘B’ relay of sophomore Jackie Schneider, Aronoff, freshman Laura Manor and Wolber won the ‘B’ finals with a provisional qualifying time of 3:50.95, the second-best time in the event at the meet.

The Emory men’s 400-yard medley relay team also notched a conference record, as Spock, O’Brien, sophomore Stephen Czaja and senior Justin Leemis won the event in a ‘B’ cut time of 3:23.03. Once again, Emory’s ‘B’ relay team notched the second-best time of the event, as junior Joel Dobben, sophomore Justin Beegle, junior Patrick Augustyn and Bass finished ninth with a ‘B’ cut time of 3:24.96.

Action at the 2011 UAA Championships will continue on Friday morning at 10:00 AM with the preliminaries of the 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard individual medley, 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke and men’s three-meter dive, with the finals starting at 6:00 PM.

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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