For the last 27 years, the University Athletic Association (UAA) has had the same women's swimming and diving team champion. There is a new name in the record books after an unprecedented Saturday night at the Myers-Loraine Pool on the campus of the University of Chicago.
The New York University women's swimming and diving team scored its first UAA Championship after a dominant final 400 freestyle relay, dethroning Emory University by just 15 points in the team standings.
"Our women's team was absolutely amazing all weekend. Up and down the roster, they turned in incredible performances," said Swimming Head Coach
Trevor Miele. "They have worked hard all year and deserve this UAA title, but our work is not done yet."
NYU opened the evening session in the mile swim with two top-five finishes.
Aanya Wala took the silver spots with a 17:05.83 time, while
Emery Muller took fifth in 17:18.69.
Sarah Pierson added points in the 200 backstroke final, taking seventh overall with a 2:03.84 time.
In her final UAA individual event,
Kaley McIntyre reset her UAA record in the 100 freestyle final with a 48.30 winning time. The Violets crucially scored four of the top five finishers in the race as
Maeve O'Donnell (50.49) and
Lian Jeong Engle (50.80) filled out the top three.
Llew Ladomirak (51.04) took fifth place.
Babette Bradley (2:18.29),
Ella Romberg (2:20.18) and
Sammy Wong (2:20.64) represented the Violets in the 200 breaststroke final, picking up critical points in fourth, sixth and eighth places, respectively.
The Violets headed to the final break of the Saturday night session with a win in the 200 butterfly.
Nicole Ranile repeated as the UAA champion with a 1:59.94 finish.
Reina Gomez (2:03.02) and
Lina Wordelman (2:05.67) took third and fourth places, respectively.
The four-day meet would ultimately come down to the "A" and "B" finals of the 400 freestyle relay, with a lead in single digits between NYU and Emory.
In the "B" final, the NYU team of
Nicole Ranile,
Sarah Pierson,
Natsuki Uchino and
Maeve O'Donnell bested the Emory squad by just 0.33 seconds. That victory required the Emory "A" relay to win the final in order to overtake the Violets in the team standings.
The NYU "A" relay would not be denied. After Jeong Engle's opening leg, Ladomirak put the Violets in front.
Andrea Wu maintained the advantage and McIntyre's 47.73 anchor leg extended the NYU lead to over four seconds. The Violets clocked in at 3:20.42 and secured the relay and meet wins.
Earlier on Saturday, the divers concluded their portion of the meet with the three-meter competition.
Maya Williams worked her way into the final, placing fifth with a 463.30 score.
Isabella Reyes (440.45) and
Meera Kasturi (432.45) topped the consolation final, placing ninth and tenth overall.
"After an up and down meet against some of the best competition in the country, NYU finished the way it was supposed to," said Diving Head Coach
Todd Kolean. "Maya showed she was back to her All-American standards and Meera and Isa impressed in the consolation finals."
All told, the Violets finished the meet with an even 1900 points. They outlasted Emory, who finished with 1885 points. NYU swept the women's meet awards, as
Kaley McIntyre earned her third-straight Swimmer of the Year honor,
Llew Ladomirak was named Rookie of the Year, and Miele and his staff were named the Coaching Staff of the Year.
NYU will round out the season hosting their Winter Swimming Invitational, Feb. 21, before competing in the NCAA Regional Diving Championships, Feb. 27-28, and the Division III Championships, Mar. 18-21.
