The Brandeis men's and women's swimming and diving teams began their season this past Saturday in a dual meet at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. The men placed first in five total events while the women took first in three. In their first meet of the season, the men lost by a score of 183-86 while the women followed suit with a 187-53 defeat.
Even though the teams lost, Brian Luk '16 thought both squads performed well.
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"Considering the depth and size the Wheaton team has over us, we were able to pick up some wins," Luk said. "Regardless of victory or not, everyone on the team swam some pretty good times. Overall I am really proud of what [our teams] did on Saturday."
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Max Fabian '15 led the men's squad with three first-place finishes in the 1000-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle, placing first in every solo event he raced in.
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In the 1000-yard freestyle, Fabian finished with a time of 10 minutes, 14.87 seconds, which gave him a 39.23 second margin of victory over second place. The margin was slimmer in the 200-yard butterfly; Fabian won by exactly two seconds.
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The closest Fabian came to losing was in the 500-yard freestyle. After a slow start, he was able to overcome Wheaton senior Frederick Garneau at the 250-yard mark. From there, Fabian managed to hold onto the slim lead and win by .56 seconds.
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Luk notched the only other solo victory that the Brandeis men had on the day, placing first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.92 seconds. In addition to his individual victory, Luk also set a personal record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.08, but narrowly lost the lead in the final 50 yards of the race and eventually finished in second by a margin of .08 seconds.
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The fifth victory came during the last event of the day, with Wheaton unofficially swimming the 200-yard freestyle relay, handing a victory, and the points, to the Judges. The Judges proceeded to win the event by default.
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The Brandeis women, competing after their male counterparts, opened with early success from Joanna Murphy '17 in the 1000-yard freestyle. Murphy placed first and finished with a time of 11:03.71, which was a massive 43 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
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Such a finish was pretty impressive for her collegiate debut. However, Murphy wasn't done yet.
After winning the opening event, she continued to dominate the competition in the distance events, taking another first-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:34.35.
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Gabby Drillich '15 secured the Judges' other individual victory in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing with a time of 2:36.03.
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Furthermore, Fallon Bushee '16 took second in two events, placing runner-up in the 50 free (26.26 seconds) and 100 free (58.14 seconds).
The Judges will return to action on Friday, when both teams compete at the University Athletic Association Invitational hosted by the University of Rochester.
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