FRIDAY'S RESULTS  I  CHAMPIONSHIP SITE  I  PHOTOS

SHENANDOAH, Texas – Only four events were held Friday night, but that was enough for the Emory University Eagles to increase their lead over the Kenyon College Lords with one day left in the 2017 NCAA Division III Men's Swimming & Diving Championship, which is being played out at Conroe ISD Natatorium.

Entering Friday's finals, Emory held a 29.5-point lead over Kenyon. When the evening's events were complete, the Eagles' lead grew to 46.5 points. Emory now heads into Saturday's competition with a total of 325 first-place points. Kenyon holds down second with 278.5 points and John Hopkins occupies third place with 250 points. Denison University is fourth with a score of 243 and both Williams College and Washington University in St. Louis are a distant fifth, tied with 179 points apiece.

The Lords did draw one point closer to Emory in Friday's first event, the 200-yard butterfly. Sophomore Jon Zimdars got the ball rolling with a fifth-place finish in a time of 1:47.84. He was edged by Emory's Christian Baker, who took fourth place in 1:47.65, but Kenyon junior David Perez added a 15th-place finish in the consolation final to pull the Lords within 28.5 points of the Eagles. Perez's time was 1:49.82. Brandon Lum of Washington won the event in an NCAA record time of 1:44.56.

In the 100-yard backstroke, the Lords got nine points from freshman Ben Baturka's ninth-place finish. He won the consolation final with a time of 49.29. Williams saw Ben Lin win the championship final with an NCAA record time of 46.62, while Emory's Sage Ono claimed third-place to push the Eagles' lead out to 35.5 points over Kenyon.

Yet another NCAA record fell in the third event, the 100-yard breaststroke. This time it was Emory senior Andrew Wilson who clocked in with a new national standard of 50.94, nearly three seconds better than anyone else in the field. Kenyon's top swimmer was senior Trevor Manz, who placed 10th in the consolation final with a time of 54.78. That was Manz's 21st career top-ten NCAA swim and it earned him his 22nd career All-America award.

Friday came to a conclusion with the 800-yard freestyle relay. Denison won the event in 6:30.72 and Kenyon took third with a time of 6:33.64, just ahead of Emory's fourth-place time of 6:36.49. Swimming the relay for the Lords were seniors Arthur Conover and Ambert Sawaya, as well as junior Gabriel Bellott-McGrath and sophomore Robert Williams.

Tomorrow's fourth and final day of the championship holds five swimming events and one diving event. Prelims start at 10 a.m. CST and finals get going at 6 p.m. CST.