Emory‘s Eagles open each season with an intrasquad meet. For some teams, competing against one another is just another practice. For the Eagles, it’s the time to put some serious speed on display early on.
Of course, Andrew Wilson is back with the Eagles, so it’s no surprise to hear he threw down strong times in his primary events. But perhaps even more impressive is what his teammates were getting up to. Quite a few took the opportunity to just run away with victories at the intrasquad meet, proving you don’t have to wait for a major competition to lay it all on the line.
Rebecca Upton and Isabella Issa got into a heated battle in the women’s first individual event: the 1000 freestyle, and duked it out until the end. Upton claimed the victory in 10:38.73 with her teammate right behind in 10:39.47. They finished more than fifteen seconds ahead of the rest of the pack.
Tom Gordon also ran away with a win in the 1000, this one by himself and by over 20 seconds, tapping in at 9:49.23.
For anyone wondering about the 800 freestyle relay possibilities at the end of the year, Ming Ong threw down a tough 1:52.96 to win the intrasquad meet, but she wasn’t miles ahead of the competition. Fiona Muir, Cindy Cheng and Marissa Bergh were all within two seconds of her, and may be a preview of the end-of-year relay we’ll watch for.
In the men’s 100 backstroke, freshman Sage Ono destroyed everyone going out and coming home, to put up a 50.23.
Following him in the men’s 100 breaststroke, Wilson touched the water for the first time in an individual event and threw down a 55.55, more than three seconds ahead of his next fastest teammate (freshman Ton Kiangsiri – 58.96). That time also easily clears the 56.8 B cut standard for NCAAs. But he wasn’t done. In the 200 breast, Wilson put up a 2:02.47 (under the 2:04.80 B cut and good enough to displace the 8th place finisher in the event at the 2016 NCAAs). To finish it out, his 200 IM was a 1:55.46.
Christian Baker joined the crew distinguishing themselves with a 1:54.84 200 fly, putting himself into the wall several seconds ahead of his teammates.
But if you want to see great control and domination in an event, look no farther than Cheng’s races. She swooped in to post a 2:04.60 200 back (under the B cut) then threw down a 2:09.33 200 IM and then added a 52.01 leg to the 400 freestyle relay.
For complete meet results of the Blue-Gold intrasquad, click here.
Andrew Wilson and the Eagles!!!