2022 UAA Champs: Emory Posts Top 2 D3 Women’s 50 Freestyles This Year on Day 2

2022 University Athletic Association Championships

• February 9-12, 2022
• Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Championships Central
• Thursday Results

Team Standings (Thru Thursday)

WOMEN

1. Emory University – 660
2. New York University – 490
3. University of Chicago – 487
4. Washington University St. Louis – 282
5. Carnegie Mellon University – 269
6. Case Western Reserve University – 250

MEN

1. Emory University – 563
2. University of Chicago – 478.5
3. Washington University St. Louis – 389.5
4. New York University – 386.5
5. Carnegie Mellon University – 335.5
6. University of Rochester – 210
7. Case Western Reserve University – 184
8. Brandeis University – 158

The University Athletics Association, one of, if not the premiere NCAA DIII swimming conference, kicked off its 2022 championships on Wednesday with diving events. The first day of swimming action was Thursday. Through the first two days of competition, Emory has established healthy leads in both the men’s and women’s meets. NCAA DIII hasn’t had a national championship since 2019 because of the pandemic, but regardless, Emory was the 2019 women’s DIII NCAA Champion, and the men’s team finished runner-up in 2019.

To put the depth of this conference into perspective, in 2019 Emory, NYU, and Chicago finished in the top 6 at the 2019 DIII women’s NCAAs, and the Emory, Washington U, and Chicago men all finished in the top 8 in 2019.

Chicago got out to an explosive start on Wednesday, finishing 1, 2, 3, and 8 in women’s 1-meter diving. Senior Elizabeth Cron won the UAA title, racking up 442.60 points, while freshman teammate Cynthia Tang took 2nd with a score of 437.55. Senior Alice Saparov was 3rd, totaling 416.55 points, and sophomore Nayna Pashilkar was 8th (398.35). Just off that event, Chicago’s women scored 109 points. Most notably, they were the only team to have multiple A finalists in the event, and they had 4 A finalists.

Things were more even in men’s 3-meter diving, where Emory junior Lucas Bumgarner won with a score of 527.15 points.

The Eagles swept the relays on Thursday, dominating the women’s relays, and winning tough battles in the men’s. In the women’s 200 free relay, Sammie Kass (23.86), Caroline Maki (22.61), Zoe Walker (23.38), and Taylor Leone (21.89) teamed up for a 1:31.74, beating out runner-up NYU by 2.2 seconds. Leone and Maki had the two fastest splits in the field as well. Emory, NYU, WashU and Chicago were all under the NCAAs qualifying mark of 1:35.63 in the event.

In the women’s 400 medley relay, Emory won by an astonishing 7 seconds. Megan Jungers led off in 54.41, Edie Bates split 1:02.07 on breast, Taylor Leone swam a 54.00 fly split, and Caroline Maki anchored in 50.15, for a final time of 3:40.63. The quartet obliterated the NCAA qualifying time of 3:49.90. NYU, Chicago, and WashU were also under the mark.

In the men’s 200 free relay, a hard-fought battle between Emory and Carnegie Mellon went down to the bitter end. Emory established the early lead, with Colin LaFave leading off in 20.52, while CMU lead-off Erik Feldmann split 20.73. Youssef Hassen pulled CMU even with Emory, splitting 20.54 to Will O’Daffer‘s (Emory) 20.70. Pat Pema, Emory’s 3rd leg, slightly grew the lead, splitting 20.46, while Matthew Nagler was 20.52 on CMU’s relay. It came down to the anchors, where Carnegie Mellon got a blistering 19.51 from Justin Britton. It fell just short, however, as Emory anchor Nick Goudie’s 19.60 was just enough to hold off Britton. Emory touched in 1:21.28, CMU 1:21.30.

Emory got out to the early lead in the 400 medley relay, thanks to a 48.47 backstroke split from Ryan Soh, and never really looked back. The Eagles then expanded their lead with the fastest breaststroke split in the field, a 53.83 from Jake Meyer. Chicago flyer Jesse Ssengonzi split a field-leading 46.60, but it simply wasn’t enough to get within striking distance of Emory. The Eagles got a 47.68 fly split from HwaMin Sim, and a 43.38 anchor from Nick Goudie. Emory touched in 3:13.36, and Chicago was 2nd in 3:14.84.

Nick Goudie was excellent individually yesterday as well, winning the men’s 50 free. Goudie swam a 19.90 to win last night, just off his season best of 19.84, which leads the NCAA DIII rankings this year. Emory was dominant in the women’s 50 free, going 1-2-3-4. Taylor Leone led the charge, winning the race in 22.97, while Caroline Maki was 2nd in 23.10. The pair are now the two fastest swimmers in the NCAA DIII this season after the performances. Emory’s Sammie Kass took 3rd in 23.36, and Zoe Walker came in 4th with a 23.56. Maki is now 6th nationally among DIII swimmers this season.

Emory also picked up wins in the women’s 500 free and 200 IM. In the 500, Penelope Helm clocked a 4:55.70 to win. She held off a charging Caitlin Marshall, an NYU freshman who touched 2nd in 4:55.93. Emory’s Clio Hancock took the 200 IM by 2 seconds, swimming a 2:02.44.

Chicago’s Garrett Clasen won the men’s 200 IM with a 1:47.65. Graham Chatoor, an NYU senior, won the men’s 500 free in 4:24.75. Notably, it took a 4:36.95 in prelims just to make it into the C final of the men’s 500 yesterday. That’s faster than many NCAA DI mid-major conference championships.