From Emory University Athletics
Emory University junior Andrew Wilson recorded the ninth-fastest short course yards time ever by an American in the 100-yard breaststroke, claiming the National Championship in the event during the third day of competition at the 2015 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships.
Wilson, who entered the meet as the Division III record-holder in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 53.41 seconds, broke his own record in the morning preliminaries in a time of 52.59 seconds, and won the event with a new record-time of 51.72 seconds in the finals. The time would have been good for a third-place finish in the event at the 2014 NCAA Division I Championships.
It was the second individual title of the meet for Wilson, who won the 200-yard individual medley in a NCAA record time on Wednesday night. His two individual championships this year match the most ever in a single NCAA Championship by an Emory men's swimmer, and his four career National Championships are the most in the program's history. The title was the 15th individual Men's National Championship, and the 18th including relays, in Emory history.
Wilson is scheduled to wrap-up his meet tomorrow with the 200-yard breaststroke, an event that he set the NCAA Division III record in earlier this year. He will be attempting to become the first Emory men's swimmer to win three individual National Titles at one meet, and increase his own record of four career National Championships.
Wilson's performance has helped the Eagles to fourth-place in the men's team standings with 187 points. The Eagles are currently trailing Kenyon College (348 points), Denison University (260 points) and Williams College (221 points).
Also on Friday, freshman Cooper Tollen and senior Eric Ruggieri each earned an all-America honorable mentions in the 100-yard breaststroke, with the former finishing 12th with a time of 55.71 seconds, and the latter claiming 14th with a mark of 56.00 seconds. Emory added an all-America honorable mention in the 800-yard freestyle relay, with junior Eagan Zettlemoyer, and sophomores Christian Baker, Mitchell Cooper and Hayes Burdette-Sapp finished 10th with a time of 6:41.14.
Through the first three days of the meet, the Eagles have accumulated five individual all-America certificates, 2 relay all-America honors, and honorable mentions from five individuals and one relay.
The 2015 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships will wrap-up on Saturday. Events on the finals day of competition include the 1,650-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard freestyle relay. Fans can follow the action with live video at http://www.ncaa.com/livescheduleand track the results live at http://www.collegeswimming.us/results/28723/.