Still looking to prove that their sport is alive and well at Brandeis, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams went into their meet against Wheaton College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute last Saturday looking for big wins. The women's team placed highly in a number of races and went 1-1 in its meet, but it was the men's squad that took center stage and took the meet by storm as it went 2-0.The men's team defeated WPI and Wheaton by scores of 154-130 and 173-109, respectively. The squad took first-place finishes in 11 of 14 swimming events and finished in the top three in the races it did not win.

Four members of the team-James Liu '10, Marc Eder '12, Daniel Danon '13 and Aaron Bennett '11-played key roles in securing the wins for the team. The four athletes combined for all 10 individual wins, and three of them were part of the first-place 200-yard medley relay team, which included Eder, Danon, Liu and Justin Wellins '10.

Liu continued his impressive stretch of wins, taking first place in three individual events and as a member of the relay team. He won the 200-yard freestyle by more than 2 seconds, the 100-yard freestyle by 0.97 seconds and the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in at 22.01 seconds, inching out sophomore Lee Chiang of WPI by a mere 0.42 seconds.

Eder took first in two individual races, as well as in the relay. He won the 100-yard breaststroke by an impressive 5.55 seconds and the 200-yard backstroke by 7.41 seconds.

Danon won two individual races and the relay as well. He placed first in the 100-yard butterfly and in the 200-yard individual medley, clocking in at 2:5.89, more than 2 seconds over the second-place finisher, Eder.

Bennett took first in the 200-yard butterfly, the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,000-yard freestyle, finishing that race at 10:43.46, 2.14 seconds in front of teammate Alex Cemaj '10.

When asked about the meet, Eder mentioned that every swimmer prepares long and hard for any event

"Coach [Jim Zotz] trains us for it," Eder said. "He designs practices that will build up a lot of endurance."

The women's squad defeated WPI by a score of 167-127 but fell to Wheaton 107-179. The women placed first in four events and earned second place in six other events.

Angela Chui '12 continued her dominating win streak, one that stretches back to last season, taking first place in three individual events. She won the 100-yard backstroke, the 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley, clocking in at 2:13.86, a wide margin of 23.21 seconds in front of the next finisher, teammate Holly Spicer '13.

Hollis Viray '10 continued to swim well, placing second in the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard breaststroke and the 1000-yard freestyle, completing the later with a time of 11:22.12, which was 2.44 seconds behind senior Sarah Houlihan of Wheaton. She also took second place as a member of the 200-yard medley relay team. The foursome of Viray, Chui, Siobahn Lyons '10 and Julia Derk '12, was less than one second away from winning the race, losing by only 0.97 seconds.

Lyons also finished in first place in the 200-yard butterfly, clocking in at 2:21.92, inching out sophomore Taryn Brosnan of Wheaton by a mere 0.005 seconds. Lyons missed out on a second win, losing the 100-yard butterfly by 0.92 seconds to Wheaton's Brosnan.

Lyons, the captain of the squad, noted the high number of close races that took place in both the women's and men's races. She mentioned that the mentality of a team motivates a swimmer to push the extra inch to win a race.

"It's about your not wanting to let your teammates down," Lyons said. "You just think about all the time and effort you put into the race and push extra hard."

After a break this upcoming weekend, the men's and women's teams will face Babson College on Nov. 11 at Babson College at 6:30 p.m.