CHICAGO, Ill -- The Brandeis University swimming and diving teams competed on the first two days of action at the 2026 University Athletic Association championships on Wednesday evening with the first final of the meet and the first round of prelims on Thursday morning and afternoon. After completing the relays, the squads were both in eighth place, with the women scoring 202 points and the men 198. 

On Wednesday evening, the top Brandeis 800-yard freestyle relays each came in eighth place for the Judges. On the men's side, Brandeis's top squad consisted of seniors Benjamin Lee (Upton, Mass./Nipmuc Regional), Solomon Skelton-Harris (Golden Valley, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), Sam Bundy (Charlotte, N.C./Ardrey Kell) and sophomore Peter Mou (Brookline, Mass./Brimmer and May School). They turned in a time of 7:02.64, improving their season best by 10 seconds. For the women, seniors Jenna Wild (Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) and Rebecca Kaplan (Fairfax, Va./Robinson Secondary School) teamed with first-years Michelle Weissler (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) and Sasha Tsizer (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) to lower the season-best by 15 seconds with a time of 8:12.53.

In Thursday's preliminary races, the Judges were unable to get anyone into the evening finals. Mou turned in the team's best finish, coming in 32nd in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.32 seconds, lowering his personal-best by one-hundredth of a second. Junior Luke Abrahamson (Lincoln, R.I./Lincoln) was 35th in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:58.18, lowering his personal-best by about half a second. Lee added a 35th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:54.71, a season-best by about four-tenths of a second.

On the women's side, Kaplan and senior Audrey Teo (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) were separated by one-hundredth of a second in the 200 IM, with Kaplan edging her teammate with a time of 2:17.02. Kaplan shaved more than a full second off her season best, while Teo lowered hers by two seconds. Tsizer was 39th in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:38.95, taking about half a second off her p.r., and Wild was 49th in the 50 free with a time of 25.65 seconds. 

First-year diver Ivana Marinkovic (Malden, Mass./Malden) was able to contribute some points for the women with a score of 289.20 in the 1-meter diving event, good for 21st place. 

The teams competed in four more relays in the evening session, taking eighth place in each. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the team of Wild, Teo, Weissler and Kaplan posted a time of 1:43.27. The 400 medley relay featured sophomore Lauren Balfour (Madison, Miss./Pine Crest), Weissler, senior D'Arcy Anselmi (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River), and Wild posting a mark of 4:08.47, six seconds better than the Judges' season best. For the men, the 200 free was swum by Mou, Lee, sophomore Santiago Salazar (Houston, Texas/James E. Taylor) and Skelton-Harris with a time of 1:26.80, while Abrahamson, Salazar, Skelton-Harris and Mou swam 3:36.99 in the 400 medley. 

The 2026 UAA Swimming and Diving championships continue through Saturday, Feb. 14.