Not even a smelly, lagoon-like pool and low attendance could stop Brandeis' swimming and diving teams' wins over Worcester Polytechnic Institute last Wednesday in the last meet before the UAA Championships. Although classes caused many swimmers to miss the meet, the men's team still topped the Engineers 113-100, while the women won 123-95. "The pool looked and smelled like a lagoon in the morning," Ross Gercenstein '06 said. "Plus the men's team had a lot of guys who couldn't make the meet because of class, and because of that there was a point at the meet where we were losing, so we kind of had to rally and really swim fast in the last couple events."

"We really came together as a team and swam some great races," Jennifer Gordon '07 said. "We put in our best swimmers to get the best results and we won both meets. We worked together and did what we had gone there to do."

Elizabeth Fischer '05 finished the 200-yard relay for the women with a low time of 27.74, while Chris Pai '07 contributed to the men's win with a time of 23.82. Sharon Makowsky '06 completed the 500-yard freestyle in 5:35.32, almost 16 seconds ahead of the next competitor, and was the third leg in the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team.

"It was a really close meet, but at the end everyone really pulled together and won their races," Aly Karp '08 said. "It was really nice to end the season with a win for both the men and the women."

The women's side won half of their 12 events, with notable wins by Karp in the one-meter dive and Keara DeKey '08 in the 200-yard butterfly. Carrie Bilodeau '05 finished the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:43.16, over two seconds ahead of the next competitor.

The men's team grabbed first place in seven of their 12 events, with Hal Grossman '07 winning the 200-yard freestyle as well as the 500-yard freestyle by over eight seconds. Grossman was also the final leg on the winning men's 400-yard freestyle relay, following Noah Rachlin '05. Rachlin placed first in the 200-yard butterfly, as did Matt Christian '05 in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Brandeis is now training for the UAA Championships in two weeks in Chicago .