By Michael Grenon, Swimming World Contributor
The first full day of the 2016 University Athletic Association Conference championships began this morning at the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster, New York, hosted by the University of Rochester. Both the men and women Emory Eagles are looking to capture their 18th consecutive conference title after the meet concludes this Saturday.
Looking to take over the lead will be teams from Brandeis University, Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, New York University, University of Rochester, and Washington University (St. Louis) in one of the NCAA Division III’s most competitive conferences.
After the women’s 1-meter diving event yesterday evening, the Chicago women lead with 75 points. Carnegie Mellon and NYU are in second and third with 72 and 55 points, respectively.
Taking all-UAA honors in the women’s 1-meter diving event were Anna Girlich from Chicago (422.05 points), Mara Rosenstock from Emory (410.65 points), and Ashlie Pankonin from NYU (399.00 points).
Thursday’s events include the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, men’s 3-meter diving, and 400 medley relay (finals only). Each of the eight teams are guaranteed to qualify a relay in both the A final and B final for all relays, barring disqualifications.
Women’s Day 1 Prelims individual up (A-final)/ mid (B-final)/ downs (C-final)
| Team | 500 Freestyle | 200 IM | 50 Freestyle | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | Mid | Down | Up | Mid | Down | Up | Mid | Down | |
| Emory | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Wash U | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Chicago | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| NYU | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| CMU | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rochester | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| CWRU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Brandeis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Women’s Day 1 Totals
| Team | Up | Mid | Down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emory | 11 | 6 | 4 |
| Wash U | 6 | 3 | 8 |
| Chicago | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| NYU | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| CMU | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Rochester | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| CWRU | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Brandeis | 0 | 0 | 0 |
On the women’s side, the Emory Eagles so far look dominant after day 1 prelims. Wash U, Chicago, and NYU look to be battling for second, with the rest of the teams well-behind.
Men’s Day 1 Prelims individual up/mid/downs
| Team | 500 Freestyle | 200 IM | 50 Freestyle | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | Mid | Down | Up | Mid | Down | Up | Mid | Down | |
| Emory | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Wash U | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Chicago | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| NYU | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| CWRU | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| CMU | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Rochester | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandeis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Men’s Day 1 Totals
| Team | Up | Mid | Down |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emory | 7 | 8 | 3 |
| Wash U | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Chicago | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| NYU | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| CWRU | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| CMU | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Rochester | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Brandeis | 0 | 0 | 0 |
On the men’s side, the battle for first is definitely tighter, but Emory has the edge going into tonight’s finals. The same three teams as the women’s side (Wash U, Chicago, NYU) seem close behind.
Two UAA meet records were broken this morning, with certainly more to come in finals and in the following two days.
In the women’s 200 freestyle relay, Emory’s A team of Fiona Muir (Fr), Meg Taylor (Fr), Marcela Sanchez-Aizcorbe (Jr), and Claire Liu (Jr) each split 23 seconds to post a 1:33.50, eclipsing the previous record of 1:33.77 from Emory in 2013.
Fiona Muir also swam a 23.34 in the 50 freestyle to sneak under Karina Stridh‘s (Wash U, 2009) record of 23.38 and claim the top seed for tonight’s final.
Day 1 finals start at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.