From Emory University Athletics

The Emory University Women's Swimming and Diving Teams capitalized off 53 NCAA Division III 'B' cut performances to finish in fourth place at the three day Miami Invitational in Oxford, Ohio.

The Emory women, who accumulated 53 total 'B' cuts during the meet (including 24 on the final day of competition), finished the meet with 1,374 points to place behind host Miami (2332), Illinois (1704.5), and Denison (1388).  

Senior Courtney McDermott was the top finisher for the Emory women on the final day, winning the 500-yard freestyle with an NCAA 'B' cut time of 4:51.84.  Following her in the event were junior McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg (4:55.94) and sophomore Carolyn Bonfield (5:02.09) in fourth and 21^st-place, respectively, both good for NCAA provisional qualifying times.

Emory's 200-yard medley relay team started the day with a fifth-place finish and a 'B' cut time, with sophomore Ellile Thompson, freshman Annelise Kowalsky, junior Nina Zook, and junior Nancy Larson recording a mark of 1:44.59.  The Eagles followed with four provisional marks in the 200-yard backstroke, with Thompson finishing in third place (2:01.83), senior Sadie Nennig in fourth (2:01.97) and sophomore Mikayla Carnley in 20^th (2:05.56).  Bonfield added a 'B' cut time of 2:05.69 in the preliminaries of the event.

The Eagles were also strong in both the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley, recording a combined 11 'B' cut times in the two events.  Sophomore Elizabeth Aronoff led all Eagles with a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:16.31), and was followed by senior Kylie McKenzie (sixth, 2:17.61), junior Megan Beach (eighth, 2:19.39) and Kowalsky (ninth, 2:19.68), while senior Brooke Woodward registered a 'B' cut time of 2:19.24 in the preliminaries.  In the 200-yard individual medley, Kowalsky paced the Eagles with a second-place finish in a time of 2:04.36, while Woodward placed sixth (2:05.91 in the preliminaries), Nennig eighth (2:05.30 in the preliminaries), Zook 10^th (2:04.82), and McKenzie 11^th (2:04.94).  Larson added a 'B' cut time of 2:07.11 in the preliminaries.

Zook also finished seventh in the 100-yard butterfly with a provisional qualifying time of 56.62 seconds in the preliminaries, while in the 100-yard freestyle, both Larson (second, 50.61 seconds) and freshman Marissa Bergh (14^th, 51.99 seconds in the preliminaries) each added 'B' cut times as well.

The Emory women rounded out the meet with a pair of provisional qualifying times in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as Bergh, freshman Claire Liu, senior Suzanne Lemberg and Larson finished third with a time of 3:26.50, and junior Dana Holt, Newsum-Schoenberg, Bonfield and McDermott finished seventh in a time of 3:29.80.

The Eagles will be off from competition for the next month for winter break, returning to action on January 10^th, 2014 for a dual meet at Florida Southern College.