Watts Wins Third Gold, Clough Sets Second Record on Final Day of PL Swim & Dive Championships

LEWISBURG, Pa. - The legendary career of American University swimming & diving's Mimi Watts has concluded with Watts winning her eighth gold medal in four years with the Eagles. The final day of the Patriot League Championships saw Watts win the 100 free to capture her 12th career medal and solidify her standing as one of the best student-athletes to ever come through American. On the men's side, junior Colin Clough broke a 23-year-old school record in the 100 freestyle.

Notable Women's Results

In yet another extremely close race, Watts went 50.40 in her 100 freestyle win, just out-touching Army's Clara Williams who went 50.42. Watts dropped 0.12 seconds from her prelims time in her finals swim.
Lian Jeong Engle advanced to the C final in the 100 free in 52.03, and placed 23rd overall.
Isabel McGovern won the C final in the women's 200 fly with a time of 2:05.82, dropping over two and a half seconds off her prelims time. She swam next to freshman Claire Mosher, who was just off the top 16 with her prelims time of 2:08.86.
Two Eagles made it to the C final in the 200 breaststroke, with Grace Netz in 17th and Mallorie Jeremiah in 24th. Netz later took 17th in the final as well, posting a PR of 2:21.58 that improves on her own sixth-fastest PR at American. Jeremiah placed 23rd overall for AU.
In her final PL meet, senior Amaya Tomma went 2:05.09 to tie for 24th in the prelims. She was part of a swim-off for the final spot in the C final of the 200 back, but just missed it.
Three Eagles set PRs in the 1,650 freestyle, led by sophomore Kate Williams with a time of 17:11.23 (fourth all-time at AU). Freshman Demetra Bicos went 17:15.68 for fifth all-time, and freshman Mallorie Jeremiah posted a time of 17:22.93 for ninth all-time.
The foursome of Watts, Jeong Engle, Grace Gilbert, and Piper Crosby closed out the meet with an eighth-place finish in the 400 free relay in 3:27.84, which ranks fifth all-time at AU.

Notable Men's Results

Clough posted a time of 44.84 to finish 14th in the 100 free prelims, which was a lifetime best at the time and moved him from sixth up to second all-time at AU.
In the finals, Clough dropped nearly four-tenths of a second to grab the new school record in 44.47, besting Hall of Famer Mark Liscinsky's time of 44.61 from 2002. Clough placed 11th overall for the Eagles in the 100 free.
Ryan Tiffany took the last spot in the C final with his 24th-place prelims finish in the 200 fly in a PR of 1:50.95, but dropped over a second in the finals to place 20th overall in 1:49.83. His new PR ranks sixth all-time at American, up from his previous spot of 13th.
Freshman Zachary Rothman posted a PR of 15:42.65 in the 1,650 freestyle which ranks fourth all-time at AU, while sophomore Brent Hinckley went 15:54.62 for seventh all-time.
The meet concluded with the 400 free relay, as Connor Florence, Aidan Delehanty, Charlie St. Louis, and Clough posted a season-best and 10th-place time of 3:02.07, which ranks fourth all-time at American.

Team Finish

With 554 total points, the women's team placed seventh of 10 teams, one spot up from a year ago.
The men's team finished with 348.50 points and ranked ninth overall, also one spot up from last season.

Medals