The New York University Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving Teams concluded the four-day University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships on Saturday, February 12, in Atlanta, GA. After the final day of competition, the NYU women's team landed third place with 1421.5 points. Meanwhile, the NYU men finished fourth with 1225 points. Emory University led the men with 1807 points and the women with 2128 points. 

Saturday's events began with the men's 1-meter diving. Hunter Whitbeck qualified eighth (407.15 points) in the morning preliminaries and advanced to seventh place (406.70 points) in the afternoon finals. "We have all worked so hard throughout this entire season and I'm so happy it paid off," Whitbeck said. "It was a really tough meet, but NYU diving brought real competition."

"The men were much better today on the 1-meter boards," commented Head Diving Coach Todd Kolean. "Hunter may have had the best 1-meter of his year. He's worked extremely hard, especially after making it to NCAA's and then Covid-19 canceling the meet. I am very proud of how he competed today." 

The swimmers also saw their season's hard work pay off with achievements that speak for themselves.

Women's Swimming Highlights:

• Ashley Brodnick placed second in the 1650 freestyle (17:01.56) and achieved a NCAA selection cut.
• In the 200 backstroke, Caroline Gjerde placed fifth (2:01.93) and Nika Kouznetsova placed seventh (2:03.14). Gjerde's time is a NCAA selection time.
• Jessica Flynn placed fifth in the 100 freestyle with a NCAA selection time of 51.22 seconds.
• Caitlin Marshall won the 200 butterfly with a NCAA selection time of 2:01.30 and Isabella Brosvik placed sixth with a NCAA B-cut of 2:05.22.
• The women's 400 freestyle relay team of Kouznetsova, Isabel Oldham, Maia McAllister, and Flynn placed second with a selection time of 3:27.17.

Men's Swimming Highlights:

• Thomas Pritchard won the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:20.82, while Connor Vincent and Graham Chatoor placed third (15:21.73) and fourth (15:26.88), respectively.
• Jaeden-Hans Yburan placed fifth in the 200 backstroke with a NCAA B-cut of 1:48.57. 
• Ajay Watanakun placed fourth in the 100 freestyle with a NCAA B-cut of 45.21 seconds. Right on his heels was Alec Reimon, placing sixth with a time of 45.49 seconds.
• In the 200 breaststroke, Jacob Haines placed sixth (2:01.57), Erik Truong placed seventh (2:02.11) and James Yan placed eighth (2:02.42). All three men achieved NCAA B cuts.
• The 400 free relay team of Watanakun, Nathaniel Yeoh, Reimon, and John Piccinic placed fifth (3:02.09) and achieved a NCAA cut.

The awards ceremony bestowed the UAA Freshman of the Year award to Marshall.

"We finished up with a great effort tonight and posted some fantastic times," Head Swimming Coach Trevor Miele commented. "I really appreciate all their hard work this year and I'm excited to see us finish the season strong at the NCAA Championships."

Following the UAA Championships, the NYU Swimming & Diving Teams look forward to their subsequent competition - next weekend's NYU Invitational (Feb. 18-19) at the Palladium Athletic Facility (PAF) Natatorium in Manhattan.