The men and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted their crosstown rivals Bentley University on Friday. While the annual crosstown meet did not end in victory for either of the Brandeis squads, the meet was much closer than the final score suggests. 

The men’s team dropped its meet by a score of 139-102, while the women’s team lost by a score of 156-74.

Brian Luk ’16 was a standout performer for the men’s team, as he won every one of his races. His team in the 200-yard medley relay, which included Edan Zitelny ’17, Richard Avrutsky ’18 and Cameron Braz ’17, finished first with a time of one minute, 42.96 seconds. In the 50-yard freestyle, Luk finished with a time of 22.01, touching the wall ahead of all other contestants. 

In his final event, the 100-yard butterfly, Luck finished at an impressive 53.77, more than two seconds ahead of second place. 

Another positive for the squad was how well the long distance swimmers, led by Max Fabian ’15, competed. Fabian won both of his long distance events, the 1000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle, with times of 10:06.67 and 4:54.94 respectively. One of the most successful races for the men’s team was the 1000-yard freestyle. With Fabian leading the way, Zach Diamond ’18 and Joey Barr ’18 finished second and third, with times of 10:21.28 and 10:35.16 respectively, completing the sweep for the Judges. 

Diamond went on to race the 200-yard individual medley and finished in first place with a time of 2:02.70. Diamond was content with his performance, noting the difficulty of the 200-yard individual medley and the 1000-yard freestyle in succession.

“My 200 was about the same time as last week; especially coming right off of the 1000, it was [a] tough [race], but I am satisfied with my race,” remarked Diamond. 

The women’s team produced a valiant effort as well, but many of the close contests did not go their way. 

Joanna Murphy ’17 turned in one of the most impressive performances for the squad. While the team overall did well on its long-distance racing, Murphy lead the way by winning both of her races. In the 1000-yard freestyle race, she ended 22 seconds ahead of the next contestant, earning a time of 11:02.58. Her second long-distance race was the 500-yard freestyle, which she won comfortably by a five-second margin, ending the race with a time of 5:23.91. 

Murphy also has begun competing in shorter distance races, racing in the 100-yard butterfly on Friday. Though finishing last, she was not far off the pack completing the race with a time of 1:08.29. 

“I was satisfied with my race times, mostly proud of my 100 fly time because it is an event I’m not that strong at but trying to improve,” Murphy said.

Overall, the team came out with a very good mentality and left with just as much confidence. Both Murphy and Diamond talked about how the team enthusiasm will only lead them to improving. 

“The team right now is really hyped, and we hope to improve in practices and at meets, especially during the upcoming second half of the season,” said Diamond

Murphy added, “our strengths as a team … [are] how we get behind each other and pump each other up for races.” 

The team will return to the pool at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Dec. 6th.