The Brandeis Swimming and Diving Team had a very positive close to a successful season this Sunday. While most Brandeis students were spending their break relaxing and doing practically nothing, the swimmers were away in Atlanta swimming in the UAA Championships (February 12-14) and across Waltham at the New England Championships (February 20-22).
The UAA Championship Meet is the pinnacle of the Judges' season. The team has lighter practices so that it can explode off the blocks en route to their fastest times of the season. Brandeis historically finishes toward the bottom of the eight-team meet but the Judges hoped to improve upon two sixth place (male and female) finishes last season.
The men's team more than exceeded expectations by finishing the meet in fourth place, only a small margin behind the third place finishers. The women's team unfortunately fell to seventh place this year, finishing ahead of only the University of Chicago. Hosts Emory Eagles easily won both the men's and women's meets, but the real story of this years' UAA Championship was the emergence of the Brandeis men's team as a serious force.
Head coach Jim Zots, diving coach Jim Brainerd and assistant coach Chuck Batchelor were awarded "Coaching Staff of the Year" by the UAA. The male swimmers, guided by the consistency and leadership of their six seniors, and sparked by the exciting speed of their freshman class, broke Brandeis records in 13 out of the 23 swimming events at UAAs. (See chart for a complete list of record-breakers).
Two male swimmers, Matt Christian '05 and Chris Pai '07 swam fast enough to qualify for the Division III National Championships held in March at Principia College, in Missouri. Christian qualified in the 200-yard Individual Medley and the 100 and 200-yard Backstroke while Pai qualified for the 100-yard butterfly and the 50 and 100 yard freestyle. Pai's first-place finish in the 50 freestyle was the first time a male Brandeis swimmer has ever placed first at a UAA swimming event. Pai also finished third in the 100 freestyle, with a time that was faster than the previous UAA record.
The Brandeis women, despite their seventh place finish, also had a strong UAA meet. Most of the swimmers achieved season-high or personal-best times in all of their races. Alison Smizer '07, Sharon Makowsky '06, Sarah Evans '06 and tri-captain Jordan Rosefigura '04 broke the record for the 800-yard Freestyle Medley. The swimmers broke the oldest record in Brandeis swimming. Tri-captain Maya Marx '04 will also represent the women's team at Nationals this year by qualifying in the 100 and 200 yard Breaststroke and 200 yard Individual Medley.
The Judges entered the New England Championships with high expectations coming off the highly successful UAA meet. The 13-team men's competition and 21-team women's competition was helf at Bentley College. The Brandeis men seemed to be on a higher level than any of the other teams, and they easily swam to a first place finish. The women also swam impressively, finishing in third place, only six points out of second. Zotz was again recognized as Men's Coach of the Year for leading the team to significant improvements (the team finished in fourth place last year).
Chris Pai '07 received the award for Men's Swimmer of the Meet, breaking New England Championship records in all three events that he competed in (50 yard Freestyle, 50 yard Butterfly, 100 yard Butterfly).
Tri-Captain Nick Dufresne '04 broke the New Englands record in the 200 yard breaststroke, and three Brandeis relay teams broke meet records. Other men's individual winners included Matt Christian '05 (100 Backstroke, 200 Backstroke, 200 IM) and Josh Storch '04 (100 Breaststroke).
The Women's team swam a strong meet, but fell short to first place Bentley and second place UMass-Dartmouth.
Maya Marx '04 broke her own record in the 100 yard breaststroke twice during the meet, first during preliminaries and then again during finals. Marx also won the 50 and 200 yard Breaststroke. Other women's team individual winners were tri-captain Jordan RoseFigura '04 (100 Butterfly) and Shira Friedman '04 (three-meter diving).
The swimmers are now looking forward to more free time and less waking up at five in the morning for practice. This season was one of the best in years, and the last two meets were a great finish.
"It was great to win the New England Championship and see everyone on the team perform so well."
The team will bid farewell to six female swimmers and six male swimmers including Dufrense.
Despite losing experience, this great performance will likely mean great things to come for the Brandeis University Swimming and Diving Team in the upcoming years.