From Emory University Athletics
The Emory University women's swimming & diving program added another national championship to its' ledger on Friday evening, winning the 800 Freestyle Relay to bring the Eagles' three day total to five national titles at the 2016 NCAA Championships.
Emory (407 points) increased its NCAA lead to 69 points over second place Kenyon College heading into the final day of action. The Eagles will try for their seventh consecutive national championship and ninth overall on Saturday. The Eagles will close out the 2016 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships with the 100 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke, 1,650 Freestyle, women's 1-meter diving and the 400 Freestyle Relay. Preliminaries begin at 10:00 AM with the finals to follow at 6:00 PM.
Fans unable to make the trip to Greensboro for the final day of competition can watch the action here: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2016/03/19 and can track live updating results here: http://www.collegeswimming.com/results/53000/.
With the 800 Freestyle Relay win, Emory has now won the national title in all four relay events thus far, marking the first time ever in program history the Eagles have won at least four relay national championships at a single NCAA Championship meet. Sophomores Rebecca Upton, Cindy Cheng, Julia Wawer and junior Marissa Bergh set a school record with a time of 7.18.50 to win the 800 Freestyle Relay. Their time was just .35 off the Division III record pace. The relay national title is the third Cheng and Bergh have been a part this year while this is the first relay national championship Upton and Wawer have assisted on. Wawer also took home a championship is yesterday's 200 Freestyle.
The Eagles added six other individual All-America finishers on Friday to bring their three day total to 18: 14 individuals and four relays. Upton had a third place showing in the 200 Butterfly with a time of 2:01.30 with sophomore Megan Campbell coming in eighth at 2:06.23. In the 100 Backstroke, Cheng and senior Ellie Thompson finished in the top-5 as Cheng placed fourth at 55.01 and Thompson touched right behind her at 55.20. And in the 100 Breaststroke, junior Annelise Kowalsky came in fifth at 1:02.84 with freshman Ashley Daniels placing seventh with a time of 1:02.95.
Junior Claire Liu and senior Elizabeth Aronoff earned All-America Honorable Mention as well for the Eagles on day three. Aronoff won the consolation final in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.14 to finish ninth overall and Liu was third in the 100 Backstroke consolation final at 55.75 to place 11th.