The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both came away with big victories this past Saturday at home against Clark University. On Senior Day, the men won by a score of 132-95, while the women were victorious 139-74. 

The men’s side captured nine of the 11 events on its way to securing the victory. The squad got off to a hot start when it finished first in the 200-yard medley relay with an overall time of one minute and 42.65 seconds. The win was paced by a group of four swimmers, Benjamin Francis ’21, Tamir Zitelny ’20, Richard Avrutsky ’18 and Zach Diamond ’18. In fact, the runners up were also a group from Brandeis, Thomas Alger ’20, Richard Selznick ’21, Daniel Wohl ’21 and Marcelo Ohno-Machado ’21. They finished less than half a second behind the first place group. 

After the relay were a series of individual races in which the Judges excelled. In the 1000-yard freestyle Tyr Hondor ’21 blew away the competition with a time of 11:01.93. This was almost 30 seconds faster than the second place competitor from Clark. Wohl followed up that success in the 200-yard freestyle with a first place finish off of a time of 1:45.21. Chase Chen ’21 finished in second in the race, with a time of 1:49.76. 

Chen upped his game in the 100-yard freestyle with a gold medal off of a 49.66 finish. His fellow classmate, Selznick, followed his lead in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:20.86, which was good enough for a first place victory. Diamond finished second in the race. 

Alger was not the only Judge to win multiple events on the day. He did so by demonstrating his versatility and securing first-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke. 

On what was, of course, Senior Day, the senior class also stepped up into the limelight. Taku Harada ’18 led the charge in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:15.75, which earned him the victory. Fellow senior Avrutsky, was the top Judge in the 100-yard backstroke. 

On the women’s side, the team was able to come away with eight different victories. Like the men, it started off the day with a win in the 200-yard medley. The four pack of Amy Sheinhait ’18, Audrey Kim ’21, Emily McGovern ’21 and Rachel Goldblatt ’21 took home the win with a time of 1:59.32. After the event, Goldblatt was able to translate her momentum into multiple individual victories as well. 

She captured first-place in the 200-yard freestyle with of a time of 2:06.93, and the 100-yard freestyle in 1:02.77. The other swimmer on the roster with multiple victories on the day was Kylie Herman ’19. Herman was dominant in the distance events, finishing first in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:23.20 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:37.16. 

There were other individual winners for the Judges on the afternoon. McGovern won the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 5:05.69. Kim also added to her relay victory with a win in the 100-yard backstroke. Her time of 1:04.48 was almost three seconds quicker than the runner up. Also picking up a gold medal was Natalya Wozab ’20, who swam a time of 58.12 in the 100-yard freestyle. Finishing right behind was Abby Damsky ’18, who earned second place with a time less than a second slower than Wozab. 

In addition to Wozab, Sheinhait strengthened the senior class performance. To add to her victory in the first relay, Sheinhait picked up a second place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.64. Her time was less than a half second behind the winner from Clark. 

Even though it was the seniors’ final home meet of the season, the 2017-18 campaign is not yet over. The teams will continue on Feb. 14 when they travel down south to compete at the University Athletic Association Conference Championships, a four-day meet hosted by Emory University. Later in the month, the team will travel to Rutgers University to compete in the Eastern Conference Athletic Conference championships.