The Brandeis University swimming and diving teams have had a very successful start to 2019. The men's team has defeated all three schools they have faced. On Jan. 13, they took on Maine Maritime College and were victorious by a score of 110–78. On the 19th, they participated in a three-team meet at Bridgewater State University alongside Keene State University. They outscored both schools, beating Keene State 152–70 and later dispensing Bridgewater State by a score of 143–79. The women’s team has a 3–1 record so far this year. On the 13th, they took on Merrimack College and Maine Maritime, beating each of those schools 131.5–129.5 and 225–25, respectively. On the 19th, they took on Keene State and Bridgewater State. The team defeated Bridgewater state 131–98 but lost to Keene State 108–114. 

Bridgewater State and Keene State

The men’s and women’s teams took on Bridgewater State and Keene State in a double dual meet. The Judges secured three out of four possible wins, with the men’s team outscoring both of their counterparts and the women's team beating Bridgewater State but losing to Keene State. 

The men’s team swept all nine individual swimming events and also claimed wins in diving and relays. Richard Selznick ’21 had two wins of his own, winning the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:15.99, 33 seconds faster than the runner up, according to the Brandeis Athletics website. Selznick also won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:49.58, outpacing his closest opponent by 11 seconds. Daniel Wohl ’21 won two races as well, taking the 50-yard freestyle in just 22.83 seconds with a margin of victory of eight-hundredths of a second. He also won the 200 in 1:46.27, about six seconds faster than his closest competitor, Brandeis teammate Marcelo Ohno-Machado ’21. Machado had a win of his own, the 100-yard freestyle, which he completed in 49.70 seconds. Brandon Lu ’22 had wins in two different strokes. His time of 2:05.17 was good enough to capture the 200-yard butterfly by four and a half seconds. He won the 200-yard breaststroke by just 0.16 seconds, but his time of 2:16.23 was still enough to earn the win. The final two individual winners for the men were juniors Matthew Arcemont ’20 and Tamir Zitelny ’20. Arcemont won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:03.32 and placed second in the 100-yard freestyle. In taking the 200-yard backstroke in 1:58.65, Zitelny topped his previous season-best time by 10 seconds. The men had a team win as well with Ohno-Machado, Zitelny, Wohl and Benton Ferebee ’22 winning the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:30.33 and margin of victory of about two seconds. 

The women had two individual winners and one relay win. Abbie Etzweiler ’22 won the 1000-yard freestyle by just over a second with a time of 11:50.87, taking six seconds off of her previous best time. She also finished third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:50.92. Claire Xu ’22 won the 200-yard individual medley by over three seconds with a time of 2:17.18. Her time of 2:19.14 placed her second in the 200-yard backstroke. The Judges closed out the meet strongly with a 200-yard freestyle relay win. The team of Audrey Kim ’21, Uajda Musaku ’21, Annie Huang ’21 and Kylie Herman ’19 finished in 1:44.89, beating out their runner up by over two seconds. 

Merrimack and Maine Maritime

The Brandeis men’s and women’s swim and dive teams swept all three possible victories at a home match on Sunday, Jan. 13. The women’s team took on Merrimack College and Maine Maritime College in a double-dual meet. The men’s team took on Maine Maritime College. 

The women’s team won seven of 15 events, just enough to edge Merrimack. Herman won two freestyle races, taking the 200-yard with a time of 2:04.81 and the 500-yard with a time of 5:37.12. Olivia Stebbins ’22 took both breaststroke events. She won the 50-yard by just seven-hundredths of a second with a time of 34.12 and the 100-yard by closer to two seconds with a time of 1:12.34. Gazelle Umbay ’22 won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:04.04, beating out her opponent by 0.64 seconds. She placed second in the 500-yard freestyle to Herman and finished third in the 50-yard fly. Claire Xu ’22 won the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:19.57. Annie Huang ’21 came in just 3.5 seconds behind her. Xu also placed third in the 50-yard backstroke and 100-yard backstroke. The relay team of Xu, Stebbins, Umbay and Lauren Howard ’22 won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:56.35 by just seven tenths of a second. 

The men’s team won all 15 events against Maine Maritime. Justin Weissberg ’20 won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races. Brendon Lu ’22 took the 100-yard freestyle and was second in the 500-yard freestyle to Weissberg. Matthew Acemont ’22 won both the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke. Ian Smith ’22, Junhan Lee ’20, Benjamin Francis ’21 and Benton Ferebee ’22 won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:49.77.