ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Brandeis University women's swimming and diving team opened the 2023-24 season in style, winning the 2023 Hartwick Relays, while the men finished third among the six teams competing. The women won eight of the 10 races, while the men took two of 10. The Judges also won the meet's lone mixed relay.
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
- The race of the meet was 800-yard freestyle relay on both sides. The women cruised to a 10-second win with a time of 9:30.02 from the team of senior Monica Iizuka (Chatham, N.J. / Chatham), sophomore Audrey Teo (Palo Alto, Calif. / Palo Alto), first-year Sophia Pulaski (West Linn, Ore. / West Linn) and sophomore Jenna Wild (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township).
- On the men's side, the Judges overcame a nearly-eight-second deficit in the final leg to win with a time of 8:21.31, just over a second better than Hartwick. The winners were senior Sam Dienstag (Wilmette, Ill. / New Trier), junior Gerald Deng (Rego Park, N.Y. / Bronx High School of Science), sophomores Sam Bundy (Charlotte, N.C. / Ardrey Kell ) and Benjamin Lee (Upton, Mass. / Nipmuc Regional).
- The Judges also swept the 850-yard free relays, in which competitors swam successive legs of 50, 100, 200 and 500 yards. On the women's side, it was Iizuka, Wild, junior Chloe Gonzalez (Miami Beach, Fla. / Miami Beach Senior) and sophomore Becca Kaplan (Fairfax, Va. / Robinson Secondary School) who won by five seconds with a time of 9:08.42.
- For the men, the winning team was comprised of first-year Avi Borgen (Teaneck, NJ / The Frisch School), senior Ryan Schulken (Waxhaw, N.C. / Marvin Ridge), junior Fischer Caplin (Park City, Utah / Park City) and Dienstag. They swam 7:48.40 to take the race by more than 20 seconds.
- In the mixed 200-yard medley relay, the quartet of junior Anastasia Bekou (Limassol, Cyprus / Laniteio Lyceum), Lee, senior Maya Haubrich (Grayslake, Ill. / Grayslake) and Dienstag were five-second winners with a time of 1:46.60.
UP NEXT
- The Judges return to action on Saturday afternoon with their first dual meet of the season at home against Vassar on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
