In last Tuesday's meet against Division I Boston College, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams could not salvage a win. Despite their best efforts, the women lost by a score of 176-78 while the men fell 168-84.The men's squad was only able to take first-place finishes in two of 16 events but also managed to rack up a significant amount of points in second-, third- and fourth-place finishes.

Going into the tough contest against BC, Coach Jim Zotz went into the meet differently than he normally does.

"We approached the BC meet as an opportunity for all of the athletes to pick their own events," Zotz said in an e-mail to the Justice.

The team's only wins came in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Marc Eder '12 placed first in the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking in with a time of 2 minutes, 21.44 seconds. He finished 5.61 seconds ahead of teammate Aaron Lefland '13.

The team of Josh Allgaier '12, Jesse Hershman '10, Justin Wellins '10 and James Liu '10 took home the 400-yard freestyle relay win with a time of 3:20.06.

Wellins also contributed points to the team in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly, finishing third and fourth respectively.

Liu took second in the 200-yard butterfly and was defeated by just under 1.50 seconds in the 200-yard butterfly by junior Brett Bromann . Liu's third-place finish came in the 100-yard backstroke, just 46 milliseconds behind teammate Daniel Danon '13.

Danon took second in the 100-yard freestyle, being outstretched by 11 milliseconds by freshman Sean Heffernan. He also took fourth in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in with a time of 23.11, just 17 milliseconds behind first-place finisher senior Timothy Jordan of BC.

Lefland added a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke as well.

Alex Cemaj '10 placed second in the 500-yard freestyle in front of Allgaier and Eder.

Bennett placed second in the 400-yard individual medley, with Brandeis taking third, fourth and fifth in the event. The relay team of David Fei '12, rookie Jared Goldman '13, Lefland, and A. Eli Tukachinksy '11 also added a second-place finish for the Judges in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Despite the results, the squad chose to look at the meet from a better perspective.

"This wasn't a meet we went in to hoping to boost our record," Eder said. "We went into it hoping to swim hard and fast, get in some yardage and training and get an idea of how we are doing."

On the women's side, the squad was able to take first-place finishes in three of 16 total events but managed many second-, third- and fourth-place finishes.

Emily Heldman '12 netted the Judges a win in the 500-freestyle, clocking in at 6:06.41. She also finished third in the 100-yard backstroke and took home a second-place finish in the 400 yard freestyle relay as a member of the team that also included Dana Simms '11, Holly Spicer '13 and Lisa Rice '10.

Simms also earned points for the women's squad in addition to the relay. She placed third and fourth in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events respectively, both times around 20 seconds behind first-place finisher and junior Ashley Driscoll of BC.

Spicer also finished third the 100-yard backstroke and in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Hollis Viray '10 was the other to capture a first-place finish, as she took first in the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking in at 2:31.76. Viray missed out on a second individual win by mere milliseconds, getting out-touched by BC sophomore Shannon Landers by 15 milliseconds in the 100-yard breaststroke. She was also a contributor to the squad's 400-yard freestyle relay win that also included Angela Chui '12, captain Siobhan Lyons '10 and Elise Alan '12.

Lyons also contributed two fourth-place finishes for the Judges, one in the 100-yard butterfly and the other in the 200-yard individual medley. Chui also lost a close one, getting beat out by 41 milliseconds in the 200-yard backstroke by first-year Alyssa Niebrugge of BC.

Both squads will look to rebound from Wednesday's meet when they travel to Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. on Feb. 16 for the University Athletic Association Championships.

Lyons believes that both squads have worked hard and are ready to be tested against the other UAA schools.

"We've put in a lot of time, a lot of yardage and a lot of mileage," Lyons said. "At this point, it's all about fine-tuning the little things,

Despite having no diver on the men's team, Zotz expects a solid performance by the men.

The men's challenge will be the lack of a diver on the team," Zotz said in an e-mail to the Justice. "Otherwise, we expect the men to perform very well.

Editor's Note: A. Eli Tukachinsky is a senior illustrator for the Justice.