This weekend’s meet at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute proved to be a tough battle for the men and women’s swimming and diving team. 

The men's team was blown out in their first match at WPI, losing 216-77. The Judges did not fare much better in the next match against Babson College, falling 160-127.

The women's squad had similar results in their first match, surrendering 220 points and scoring a mere 73. 

The women were able to make a minor comeback in the next match against Babson, accumulating 193 points against Babson's 63. 

The Judges could not keep up their momentum in the third match, falling 170-121 to the host Smith College.

Overall, the Judges unfortunately came away with just two first-place finishes combined in the WPI tournament over the weekend.

 Zach Diamond ’18 took home a gold medal and added a second and fourth-place finish to top off his impressive weekend. 

Kylie Herman ’19 had a big showing for the women’s squad, taking home a plethora of medals. The rest of the Judges had a few strong performances as well, as Joanna Murphy ’17 won second in the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle events and the women’s A team took the bronze in the 400-yard medley relay.

The women’s A team started off strong, with a total time of four minutes, 24.88 seconds to snag the bronze medal. 

Led by Amy Sheinhait ’18, the women seemed be gaining some momentum. Yet the momentum dissipated as they were unable to keep up the fast pace throughout the rest of the day. 

After Murphy’s solid performance in the 1000-yard freestyle, Herman was able to match her feat with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. 

Yet the Judges’ luck began to taper off at that point, failing to crack the top five in the next three races. Herman again lifted the team with a narrow first-place win against Smith College’s freshman Desi Stoyanova in the 200-yard butterfly. 

Amy Sheinhart ’18 followed with consecutive top three finishes in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races. The women looked wiped until Murphy resurfaced and made a dominant run in the 500-yard freestyle to nab the silver medal. 

The women ended their day with a stellar second-place performance in the 200-yard freestyle medley. 

On the other side of the spectrum, the men did not see quite as much success as their counterparts. 

With Diamond dominating the 1000-yard freestyle with a first place finish, the Judges seemed to have some hope. 

However, that confidence soon faded as the Judges recorded only one third-place finish in the next four events. 

Evan Thom ’18 broke the streak with a bronze performance in the 50-yard-freestyle race. 

Three events later, Taku Harada ’18 followed the lead, grabbing third in the 200-yard backstroke race, narrowly edging out teammate Edan Zitelny ’17 by two milliseconds. Zitelny got his revenge in the 100-yard butterfly, taking home third place with a 55.09 finish. 

Diamond eased past the competition to steal the silver in the last individual race of the day.  

After the meet, Diamond was optimistic about the performace, explaining, “I am very confident that the team will put on a great show come the next few months.” 

Brandeis closed out with a modest third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle team relay led by Thom. 

After being named October’s swimmers of the month by the University Athletic Association, Diamond and Herman lived up to their expectations but could not carry the team the whole way. 

However, it should be duly noted that each swimmer had a season- best time at this past weekend's difficult meet. 

The team looks to improve upon its performance in this month’s hometown meet against crosstown rival Bentley University.  

It will try to best last season's result, in which the women fell to Bentley 156-74.

The men also came up short in the contest falling to the Waltham school, 139-102.