From Emory University Athletics
The Emory University Men's Swimming and Diving Team finished in
third place at the 2014 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving
Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday night.
It was the ninth third-place finish in the program's history, and
the 13th top-three finish overall for the
Eagles. Emory has now finished in the top-five in the team
standings each of the last 15 years.
Emory accumulated 246.5 points during the four-day meet, finishing
behind only first-place Kenyon College (480 points) and
second-place Denison University (472 points).
On the final day of competition, sophomore Andrew
Wilson was the runner-up in the 200-yard breaststroke, earning
his third individual all-America honor of the meet. In the
process, he set a school record in the event with a time of
1:58.54, besting the previous program record of 2:00.26, set by
Peter O'Brien during the 2010 Miami Invitational.
Senior Ross Spock capped off his Emory career with his
sixth all-America honor of the meet, finishing sixth in the
200-yard backstroke. His time of 1:47.34 in the preliminaries
broke what was the oldest swimming record in the men's program's
ledger, besting the previous mark of 1:48.13 set during the 2004
NCAA Championships by Chris Halstead.
Spock ended his Emory career with a program record 21 all-America
honors. His incredible 2014 meet including a National
Championship in the 100-yard backstroke, a runner-up finish in the
50-yard freestyle, relay championships in the 200-yard medley relay
and 400-yard medley relay, and a runner-up finish as a part of the
200-yard freestyle relay. Spock was a part of five
program-record setting performances during the meet.
In addition, he became just the ninth swimmer in the program's
history to earn all-America honors in the same event all four years
of a career, accomplishing the feat in the 100-yard backstroke.
The race for third place came down to the final event of the meet,
the 400-yard freestyle relay, with Emory leading Johns Hopkins by
5.5 points. With the two teams swimming next to each other in
the consolation finals, Hopkins would edge the Eagles to win the
heat, with Emory claiming second. However, the Eagles still
earned enough points with the finish to hold off Hopkins in the
standings. Emory's Spock, senior Jake Stephens,
sophomore Matt Kuhlik and senior Ryan
Bass finished 10th overall in the relay with a
time of 3:01.16.
The Emory men combined to win three National Championships and six
individual all-America honors, while also registering all-America
finishes in three relays. Emory added an individual honorable
mention and two relay honorable mentions during the meet.
Members of the team also set school records in seven different
events during the four-day meet.