The Emory University men’s and women’s swim and dive teams swept the competition at the Emory Fall Invitational, held Nov. 8-9. The Eagles posted dominant results across both days, earning 23 event wins. Both the men’s and women’s teams placed first with a total of 707 and 780 points, respectively.
On the women’s side, sophomore swimmer Allison Greeneway set the tone early with a win in the 200-yard individual medley, touching at 2:02.80 to open her dominant weekend. Greenway also contributed to three relay victories, swimming on the winning 200-yard freestyle, 400-yard medley and 200-yard medley relay teams.
Joining Greenway on the 200-yard freestyle relay team was sophomore swimmer Caitlin Crysel, who also won individual 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races. Senior swimmer Penny Celtnieks and junior swimmer Katie Cohen also delivered strong performances, winning the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard breaststroke, respectively.
Sophomore swimmer Stephanie Lee, who was part of a different 200-yard freestyle relay team that earned third place, said the supportive team atmosphere made the meet fun to compete in.
“Some people had such amazing races that it just brought such high energy,” Lee said. “Even when I was standing behind the blocks about to race, I could hear people cheering for me and saying my name, it’s really fun.”
For the men, senior swimmer Henri Bonnault led the team with dominant victories in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events. Additionally, graduate swimmer Crow Thorsen took first in the 400-yard individual medley and sophomore swimmer Ben Pritchard secured the distance title in the mile with a 15:46.79 finish.
Freshman swimmer Carson Kalish won the 200-yard individual medley and junior swimmer McKee Thorsen earned first place in the 200-yard butterfly. Owen Howell, another freshman swimmer, said he turned in one of his best personal performances in the 200-yard individual medley, and that his improvement in the relays is a result of the training difference between swimming in college and high school.
“I have to attribute that a lot to the work we're doing with relay starts, which is very different from high school,” Howell said. “We're training those a lot, and that's made a huge difference.”
Not only training, but like Lee, Howell also noted the team environment was a positive contributor to their success.
“For the team, just overall, the energy was up,” Howell said. “Everyone was cheering for each other, celebrating each other’s successes.”
Assistant coach John Petroff credited the team’s confidence as a key factor in the Eagles’ success and noted the team’s physical conditioning is helping them build momentum this season.
“Compared to this time last year, the team’s confidence was just a notch higher,” Petroff said. “People were walking around the deck with a little more self-assurance, and it was reflected in more confident swims. We're really fit right now, and that is a confidence booster.”
With strong early-season performances and growing momentum, the teams have some time off before turning their attention to post-Thanksgiving break, when they will compete at Denison University (Ohio) from Dec. 4-6 and the divers will head to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the MIT Invitational from Dec. 5-7.
