Emory Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Record Second-Place Finishes at NCAA Division III Championships; Horvat Named Women's Swimmer of the Year

Emory University swimmers combined to record 12 all-America performances on the final day of completion at the NCAA Division III Championships, including Liz Horvat's third individual national championship of the meet, as both the Eagles' men's and women's teams finished second in the nation. In addition, Horvat was named the Division III Women's Swimmer of the Year. Emory's Jon Howell was named the Division III Women's Swimming Coach of the Year.

The Emory men finished with 402 points, placing them second behind the national champions, Kenyon College (604 points), and well ahead of third-place Denison University (308.5 points).  The Emory women finished with 466.5 points, making a valiant effort at a final-day comeback against champion Kenyon College (560 points).

Horvat earned her third individual national championship of the meet, and fourth overall, in 1,650-yard freestyle.  The sophomore set her third individual NCAA Division III record of the meet, winning the event with a time of 16:30.17.  After earning national championships in the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley, and as part of the 800-yard freestyle relay earlier in the meet, Horvat matched Julie Hogan's Emory record for wins at a national championship meet, and became Emory's first Swimmer of the Year honoree.

More Emory history was made by senior Tess Pasternak, who set a school record in the preliminaries of the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:59.54, in addition to a third-place finish in the finals.  After earning all-America honors in the 100-yard backstroke earlier in the meet, Pasternak became the first Eagle to earn all-America honors in two events for four-consecutive seasons.

Junior Ruth Westby finished second and set school records in both the 100-yard freestyle (49.74 seconds) and as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:23.19).  She finishes the meet with seven all-America honors for the second time in her Emory career, and becomes the first Eagles' swimmer to reach 20-career all-America honors.

Rounding out Emory's all-America honorees on the final day were Amy Minowitz (seventh) and Anne Culpepper (eighth) in the 1,650-yard freestyle, and Lillian Ciardelli (sixth) in the 100-yard freestyle.  Kate Gunning (14th, 1,650-yard freestyle), Rachael Mullen (15th, 1,650-yard freestyle), Whitley Taylor (13th, 100-yard freestyle), and Katie Mroz (ninth, 200-yard breaststroke) all earned all-America honorable mentions on Saturday.

All together, the Emory women compiled five national championships, five NCAA Division III records, 20 all-America performances, 13 all-America honorable mentions and 16 school-record times.

The Emory men set four school records of their own on the final day, led by freshman Paul Weinstein's third-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:27.89.  He was followed by seniors Bruce Milburn in fifth place, and Keith Diggs in sixth.

Emory's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Tom DiMarco, Mark Bernstein, Brad Sloan, and Randall Scarborough finished fourth in the finals, after setting a school-record mark of 2:59.88 in the preliminaries.  Scarborough also earned an all-America honorable mention with a 13th-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle in an Emory-record time of 44.98 seconds, while junior Kevin Yamada claimed 16th-place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a school-record mark of 2:02.84 in the preliminaries.

The Emory men recorded 21 all-America finishes, eight all-America honorable mentions, and 14 school-record times during the course of the meet.

The second-place finish matches the best in the history of the men's program, a feat the team has accomplished on three other occasions, most recently during the 2005 championship meet.  The women's second-place finish was their best since they won the national championship in 2006.

The meet concludes the 2008-09 swimming and diving season for the Emory Eagles.