The streak lives on as for the 26th consecutive time the Emory University women's swimming & diving team captured the University Athletic Association championship as the conference meet came to an end Saturday night at the Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center in Atlanta. This also represents the 32nd overall conference championship for the Eagles.
The Eagles outlasted a final-night charge from New York University to extend their winning streak over the rest of the vaunted UAA. Emory finished the four-day meet with 1,867 points while the Violets totaled 1,846 points. The 21-point margin of victory was closest between the top two teams in the 37-year history of the UAA Championships.
At the end of the meet, freshman Caitlin Crysel was one of the big award winners as she was tabbed as the Rookie of the Year on the women's side. She becomes the 14th Eagle to win the honor. Furthermore, the Emory coaching staff of Jon Howell, Cindy Fontana, John Petroff, Bob Hackett and Tomasz Rossa were honored as Co-Coaching Staff of the Year winners alongside NYU. It is the 14th time Howell and his staff have won the honor on the women's side.
After ending Friday night trailing the Violets by 18 points, the Eagles were able to soar into a 67-point advantage following the first four events on Saturday.
The night got underway with senior Ariana Khan (4th, 460.90) and junior Ren Watt (8th, 435.95) showing out for the Eagles in the final of the 1-meter dive. After the divers' performances on the board, senior Jada Chatoor opened the evening' swimming session by taking second in the mile as she turned in an All-UAA effort with a time of 16:55.83. Joining Chatoor inside the top-six were juniors Meredith Liu (4th, 17:01.03) and Morgan Main (6th, 17:09.49).
Over the next two events, the Eagles placed four inside the top 12 in the 200 Backstroke and six inside the top 12 in the 100 Freestyle to move ahead of NYU by a score of 1,597-1,530. Junior Jane Sanderson paced the Eagles in the 200 Back as she took third at 2:00.79 and in the 100 Free, freshman Louisa Wendt was an All-UAA finisher as she earned bronze with a time of 50.98.
The Violets shaved 17 points off the Emory lead in the 200 Breaststroke, but the Eagles were still showcased by sophomore Katie Cohen in the event as she completed the Breaststroke sweep in grand fashion. Cohen broke the UAA record as she won gold, touching in a time of 2:15.38 while freshman Maddy Lu was the runner-up at 2:17.03.
NYU continued to shave into the Emory lead as competition moved into the 200 Fly as top finishes by the Violets cut the Emory lead down to 23 points. Freshman Elodie Mitchell headlined Emory swimmers in the event as she placed third with a time of 2:01.30 and one of three Eagles in the A final as the team picked up much needed points.
With a 23-point margin heading into the final event of the weekend, the Eagles were able to clinch the title behind strong efforts from the 400 Freestyle Relay teams. In the consolation final, the group of Sanderson, sophomore Natalie Boorjian, junior Isabel Huang and sophomore Meredith Teague won the race at 3:27.00 before the group of Crysel, Wendt, senior Ava Kennedy and graduate student Penelope Helm took silver with a time of 3:23.06.
Across the four days in Atlanta, the Emory women compiled four event titles and 21 All-UAA finishes.