The men and women’s swimming and diving team competed in the Rochester Invitational on Saturday and Sunday but were unable to pull out a victory amid some strong individual performances. 

The men lost all three of their  difficult matchups in the triple dual meet with New York University, the University of Rochester and Canisius College. 

They were defeated by Canisius 302-63, to NYU 301-60 and by Rochester 300-65.

The women suffered a similar fate, losing all three of their meets as well, leaving both the men and women winless one month into the early season. 

The women lost to Canisius 281-66, to NYU 313-47 and Rochester 303-57.

The meet was difficult as the Judges faced tough University Athletic Assocation conference opponents in NYU and Rochester.

In addition to the UAA foes, the meet also featured Canisius, which competes in Division I.

The results did not offer much in the way of optimism for either team, as the men combined to score 188 points compared to 834 points from first-place NYU, and the women only managed 170 points compared to 851 from NYU. 

The men finished a whopping 351 points behind the hometown third-place Rochester.

The women found their most success in the 500-yard freestyle, where Kylie Herman ’19 notched Brandeis’s only top-three finish of the day by finishing third, only three-tenths of a second ahead of the fourth-place finisher. 

Joanna Murphy ’17 and Theresa Gaffney ’16 followed Herman in the event, finishing with the seventh and thirteenth best times in the event, respectively. 

Herman, who was named a University Athletic Association Swimmer of the Week for October 19th, also finished eighth in the 400-yard individual medley and tenth in the 200-yard butterfly. 

Murphy also managed to help keep the Judges from finishing last in every event, with a tenth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle.

After becoming the first Brandeis swimmer to be honored by CollegeSwimming.com as their National Division III Swimmer of the Week, Zach Diamond ’18 only managed to finish in the middle of the pack in the events that he took part in. 

Diamond, who earned the honor after notching three individual victories during the Judges’ dual meet with Wheaton, ended his day at the Rochester Invitational by finishing sixth in the 1650-yard freestyle, seventh in the 200-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle and eighth in the 400-yard individual medley.

Diamond commented, “Our team did well for this time of year; we are constantly working to lower our times as well as becoming more efficient in the water.”

For the men, Edan Zitelny ’17 added a ninth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, and Taku Harada ’18 earned a tenth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, three spots behind Diamond. 

Cameron Braz ’17 and Harada finished tenth and eleventh in the 200-yard freestyle, respectively. 

For the women, Ariana Traub ’18 finished eighth overall in the 50-yard freestyle.

Both teams had swimmers finish at or near the very bottom in most of their events. Many of the competitors’ B and C medley and relay teams finished ahead of Brandeis’s A team. 

The men and women will get a week off before they travel to Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Sunday, Nov. 8, where the men will face off against Babson  College as well as WPI. 

The women will face off against WPI, Babson and Smith College on the same day.

Diamond was optimistic about the rest of the season.

He mentioned, “We are focusing a lot more this year on ‘practicing smart  ’. This means that practices will include more technique and pacing opportunities that can simulate a race. This mind frame will hopefully guide us throughout the season.”

The Judges will look to thrive at the upcoming non-conference meets for the next couple months.

This will all lead into the UAA Championships in February.