Men, women swim for 8th straight UAA titles

February 6, 2006
Men, women swim for 8th straight UAA titles

Douglas Blair is Emory sports information director.

Emory once again will play host to the University Athletic Association (UAA) men’s and women’s swimming and diving championships, Feb. 8–11, at the Woodruff P.E. Center.

This marks the second time in three seasons Emory has hosted the event, the last being in 2003. The meet opens on the afternoon of Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 4:30 p.m. with the diving portion of the competition. Thursday through Saturday will begin with swimming preliminaries at 10 a.m. with diving to follow. Both swimming and diving finals begin each evening at 6 p.m.

Emory has dominated the UAA championships in recent years, with both the men’s and women’s squads winning the past seven titles. Last season the women posted a convincing victory with 1098.5 points, a nearly 460-point victory over second-place Washington University, which finished with 639.

The men also dominated last season, scoring 882.5 points to distance themselves from second-place Carnegie Mellon’s 613 points.

Of all UAA schools, Emory’s women have won the most conference swimming championships with 13, including titles from 1991–93, 1995–97 and an ongoing string that began in 1999. The men have claimed all seven of the program’s championships, from 1999 to the present.

With head coach Jon Howell at the helm of both squads, Emory also has competed well on the Div. III national stage, with the women winning the program’s first national championship last season and the men finishing second the past two seasons.

Leading the way for this year’s women’s team will be seniors Samantha White, Holly Hinz and Samantha Gillen, as well as junior Ellen Flader and freshman Tess Pasternak. White and Hinz are three-year All America performers, while Gardiner has earned the honor the past two years. Gillen and Flader were named All America this past season.

On the men’s side, watch for seniors Brandon Burke, Justin Hake and Mike Klein, as well as junior Andrew Callam and sophomore Nick Lake. Burke and Hake each have garnered All America honors since their freshman seasons, while Callam is a two-year honoree. Klein and Lake were named All America for the first time last season.

This week, both Emory’s men and women will look to claim their eighth straight conference championships, and then to carry that momentum into the Div. III national championships in Minneapolis, Minn., March 16–18.
For more information on the UAA championships, please visit the official home of Emory Eagle athletics at www.go.emory.edu.

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