Last week’s win against Clark University was a much-needed victory for both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams as they gear up for the upcoming championship meets — the University Athletic Association Championships at the University of Chicago and New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Association Championships  at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The women’s team has had a rough journey to the championships. They started the season off with a win against Roger Williams University, but ended the dual meet season 6–8. Though the women have not been at their best, the incoming class of swimmers has dominated the top times as stated by the Brandeis Athletics Website.

First year Lauren Howard, a native of Hannover, Massachusetts, led the team in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle during the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Gompei Invitational, swimming personal bests in the finals. Breaststroke swimmer and native of Storrs Mansfield, Connecticut, Olivia Stebbins ’22, also made personal bests in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard breast at the WPI Gompei Invitational. Claire Xu ’22 from Woodbridge, New Jersey, finished the season strong with many personal bests in backstroke and the individual medley — a continual swim consisting of all the strokes in a specific order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.

The two seniors on the team, Sabrina Greer from Greensboro, North Carolina, and Kylie Herman from Weston, Florida, both did swimmingly in their last home meet against Clark University. Greer came in second place during finals in the 50-yard fly with a personal best time of 31.51 seconds. Herman finished first in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle with times of 2:04.26 and 5:34.69 seconds, respectively.

On the men’s side, the team enters into the UAA and NEISDA championships with an overall record of 6–5, having won the last three meets. Ranked 43 in Division III dual meets, swimmers like junior Tamir Zitelny from Syosset, New York, and sophomore Richard Selznick from Las Vegas, Nevada, lead the team.

At the WPI Gompei Invitational, Zitelny swam a 50.25 second 100-yard fly, a seasonal best that brought him into fourth place overall in the  division A final. Both Zitelny and Selznick, based on the number of points scored for their team, came in as two of the top five swimmers at the WPI Invitational meet. Selznick finished first in all three of his individual swims. He swam a 4:52.02 in the 500-yard free, a 10:07.03 in the 1000-yard free, and a 4:20.41 in the 400-yard Medley.

Brendon Lu ’22 from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, has also done well this season. He began his career with the Judges by swimming four personal best in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard IM at WPI Gompei Invitational. In the 400 IM, Lu swam 4:16.60 in prelims and 4:12.95 in finals, dropping a total of 3.65 seconds in just one meet. 

Looking forward, I anticipate that the swimmers mentioned will do well in the UAA and NEISDA championships. Both the women and men’s teams have the talent to end this season on a high note.