If the first event of last Wednesday's swimming and diving meet against the hosting Wheaton College Lyons was any indication, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams were both on their way to one of their most impressive victories this season. The women's team opened the meet with a school-record-setting performance in the 400-yard medley relay while the men's team won the same event by almost ten seconds. But despite the fast starts, neither squad was able to come away with a victory. The women's team lost 125-118, dropping their record to 4-3 on the season, while the men's squad fell 118-113 to fall to 3-4 this season.

The women's team won 10 of the 13 events, but Wheaton was able to surpass the Judges' point total by taking second and third place finishes in 10 events. They also took first place in two events in which they also took second and third place.

Angela Chui '12, Hollis Viray '10, Siobhan Lyons '10 and Julia Derk '12 were the members of the women's squad's 400-yard medley relay team, which set both a school and facility record in the event's opening race. The foursome finished with a time of 4 minutes, 7.46 seconds, surpassing a school-record that had stood for six years. The time was a full six seconds faster than Wheaton's top 400-yard medley relay team.

This was the seventh event in which the Judges broke a school record this season. Only two of those performances have come in relay events; the other five were individual events.

"The record breaking was four people swimming their best," coach James Zotz said. "That was [Viray's] and [Lyon's] lifetime best. It's not just about one swimmer, it's really the four of them doing a great job all around."

Chui has been the one constant in the seven record-setting performances. She possesses all five of the individual records set this season and has also been a part of the two relay teams that set records.

Chui continued her strong rookie season against Wheaton, winning the 200-yard backstroke and the 500-yard freestyle events with times of 2:30.20 and 5:28.90, respectively

Viray and Lyons also won multiple events following the record-setting performance. Lyons beat out Wheaton rookie Sarah Miller in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:22.00 and also won the 200-yard butterfly event in 2:17.27. Viray captured the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.81 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:30.20.

On the men's side, Brandeis also won a majority of the events, taking nine of 13, but could not match Wheaton's depth.

The Judges did not compete in diving events, losing 26 points by default. Zotz said the team was prepared to face one of Wheaton's divers and give up 18 first-place points in two diving events but did not anticipate competing against a second Wheaton diver, which gave the home squad eight additional second-place points in the diving events. Had the Judges only competed against one Wheaton diver, they would have tallied enough points to win the meet.

"It's unfortunate because we already recognize we don't have divers. We have to be prepared for that, though, coming in," Zotz said. "We didn't expect them to have another diver after what we knew of them last semester. It definitely hurts us, but we still should've beaten Wheaton."

The Judges had three swimmers win multiple events. James Liu '10 was again among the Judges' top performers, with victories in the 50-yard freestyle in 22.47 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 48.92 seconds. Aaron Bennett '11 won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:59.67 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:59.14, while Marc Eder '12 took the 200-yard individual medley in 2:05.06 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:17.17.

"We played this meet well," Liu said, "We had a few personal bests and season best times, so overall it was good. [Zotz] told us not to be disappointed about this one."

Both squads are still practicing at Bentley College and Regis College following the Oct. 28 closing of the Linsey pool. According to team captains Rachel Nadas '09 and Mike Rubin '09, the varsity teams will remain for an additional year, but the University has yet to officially announce a decision regarding the future of the program beyond the end of the current season (see page 3).

Both teams return to action tomorrow night against Clark University at 6 p.m. in a meet that was originally scheduled to be held at the Linsey pool. The teams then will play at Trinity College Jan. 24 at 1 p.m.