From Emory University Athletics
Emory University's McKenna Newsum-Schoenberg claimed the first National Championship of her collegiate career, as the senior won the 200-yard butterfly during the third day of the 2015 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Shenandoah, Texas.
Newsum-Schoenberg became the first woman in the program's history to win a National Title in a butterfly event, and claimed the 27th individual National Championship by an Emory woman. Her time of 2:00.43 in the finals broke her own school record, set first earlier in the season at the UAA Championships, and broken during the preliminaries of the event on Friday.
Newsum-Schoenberg's performance helped the Eagles remain in first place in the team standings heading into the final day of competition on Saturday, with Emory aiming for its sixth-consecutive NCAA Division III Championship. The Eagles have taken firm control over the field with 456 points, as Denison University ended the day in second place with 320 points, followed by Williams College in third with 306 points.
Emory also saw a program-record setting performance from its women's 800-yard freestyle relay team of freshman Julia Wawer, freshman Cindy Cheng, junior Carolyn Bonfield and sophomore Marissa Bergh, which finished second in a time of 7:19.01. The time bested the previous school record of 7:20.22, set during the 2011 NCAA Championships.
Senior Nina Zook finished as the runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:00.70, while freshman Rebecca Upton placed eighth after swimming a time of 2:02.69 in the preliminaries, as both earned all-America honors for the event. Emory also received all-America finishes from junior Ellie Thompson (fifth place, 55.13 seconds) andClaire Liu (sixth place, 55.29 seconds) in the 100-yard backstroke and from junior Elizabeth Aronoff in the 100-yard breaststroke (third place, 1:02.57). Adding all-America honorable mentions were sophomore Annelise Kowalsky (10th, 1:02.93) and freshman Megan Campbell (16th, 1:03.93 in the preliminaries) in the 100-yard breaststroke.
After three days, the Emory women have two National Championships, 20 individual all-America honors, four relay all-America finishes, and nine all-America honorable mentions.
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/.