WORCESTER, Mass. – The Brandeis University Swimming and Diving teams each split their meets tonight against a few other teams at WPI. For the men, the Judges defeated host WPI, 140-131, but lost to Babson, 142.5-119.5. On the women's side, Brandeis picked up wins over Smith (168-125) and Simmons (148-141), while losing to WPI (74.5-218.5) and Babson (99-160). The Brandeis men are now 2-2 on the season while the women are 2-4.
The Judges' most successful swimmer on the night was sophomore Brendon Lu (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge), who won three events for the men. Lu took the two breaststroke events, winning the 50 in 28.24 seconds and the 100 in 1:01.55, as well as the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:23.83, just edging rookie teammate Joshua Liu (New Hyde Park, N.Y./Great Neck South).
Lu was the Judges' only winner on the night, but they had one tie for first in the 200 freestyle, where junior Daniel Wohl (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) tied with a swimmer from Babson with a time of 1:43.35. Wohl was also second in the 100 free (47.86 seconds) and third in the 50 free (22.40 seconds).
Brandeis had three other individual second-place finishes. Junior Richard Selznick (Las Vegas, Nev./Palos Verde) was second in the distance freestyle events, posting a time of 10:20.18 in the 1000 free and 4:58.93 in the 500. Senior Tamir Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) was runner-up in the 100 butterfly in 51.42 seconds and third in the 100 backstroke in 53.73 seconds.
In the relay events, the Judges took second in both. Zitelny, Lu, senior Matthew Arcemont (Santa Ana, Calif. / Mater Dei) and junior Marcelo Ohno-Machado (San Diego, Calif. / Torrey Pines) were second in the 400 medley with a time of 3:36.54. In the 400 free relay, it was Wohl, Ohno-Machado, Arcemont and Zitelny who were second with a time of 3:13.69.
On the women's side, rookie Bailey Gold (Berkeley Heights, N.J. / Governor Livingston) kept up her fine season with a pair of second-place finishes, in the 100 butterfly (1:01.07) and the 100 backstroke (1:02.52). Gold was also fourth in the 200 free (2:04.20).
Junior Uajda Musaku (Winthrop, Mass./Winthrop) added a runner-up finish in the 100 free (56.46 seconds) while taking fifth in the 50 (25.63 seconds). Rookie Christina McPhillips (Narragansett, R.I. / Narragansett) rounded out the second-place finishers for the women, touching second in the 50 butterfly (28.36 seconds).
Other top-five performances for the women came in the 50 backstroke, where junior Audrey Kim (Livingston, N.J. / Livingston) tied for the fifth spot in 29.57 seconds; in the 50 breaststroke, where junior Emily McGovern (Chatham, N.J. / Chatham) was fourth in 33.10, just ahead of sophomore Olivia Stebbins (Willington, Conn. / Edwin O. Smith) in 33.12; rookie Ema Rennie (Dublin, Ohio / Dublin Scioto) in the 50 free (25.58 seconds, 4th); and Audrey Kim in the 100 back (1:03.58, 4th).
In the 400 medley relay, the Judges' top team was DQed, but the squad of Kim, Rennie, McPhillips and Musaku bounced back to take third in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:49.81.
The Judges return to action in two weeks when they meet their cross-town rivals from Bentley University on the road at 6:00 p.m.
