Two weeks ago, the Brandeis Mens and Womens Varsity Swimming Teams traveled to the University of Rochester in New York. Both the Brandeis Men and the Brandeis Women failed to win their respective meets.
The Brandeis Womens team lost by a score of 160 to 138. Brandeis took an early lead in the first event, the 200-Yard Medley Relay, with a 1st place finish. But two events later, in the 200-Yard Freestyle, Rochester took the lead and kept it for the remainder of the meet, despite Sarah Evans 06 finishing 2nd. Rochester increased its lead in the 100-Yard Backstroke when they finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Events 5, 7, and 9 for the Brandeis Womens team saw three incredibly close finishes. Britt Cindric 08 won the 100-Yard Breaststroke by about 3/10 of a second. Charlotte Rhea 08 lost the 50-Yard Freestyle by less than a tenth of a second. Evans finished 2nd in a 100-Yard Freestyle race that saw less than a seconds difference between 1st and 3rd place.
Rochester put the nail in the coffin when they finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the 10th event, the 200-Yard Backstroke. Rochester had a lead of 52 points after the 12th event, the 500-Yard Freestyle. Brandeis took the remaining four events. Lalin Anik 06 won the 100-Yard Butterfly, Rhea won the 3 Meter Diving, Sharon Makowsky 06 won the 400-Yard Individual Medley by about three seconds and, to wrap up the day, Brandeis won the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay. The main weakness for Brandeis in this meet was their two backstroke events, in neither of which they finished anywhere in the top three.
The Brandeis Mens swimming team lost 164 to 130. Brandeis took an early lead with a victory in the 200-Yard Medley Relay. Rochester took the lead in the third event, the 200-Yard Freestyle. In this event, Hal Grossman 07 lost by just a second. The 100-Yard Backstroke saw Ross Gercenstein 06 lose by a second. Matt Lerman 07 and Lev Davidson 06 then finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the 100-Yard Breaststoke to shrink Rochesters lead to just three points. Todd Berman 07 then won the 50-Yard Freestyle by 1/3 of a second.
But then Rochester finished 1st and 2nd in the 1 Meter Diving to take a 19 point lead, their largest until the end of the meet. Two close finishes then occurred, as Berman won the 100-Yard Freestyle by 1/10 of a second and Grossman lost in the 200-Yard Backstroke by a second. Lerman and Davidson then finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the 200-Yard Breaststroke. Berman won the 100-Yard Butterfly to bring Brandeis within eight points. But this was as close as Brandeis got, as Rochester took the last three events to win.
The Brandeis Mens teams weakness in the meet was their diving;
they didnt finish in the top two in either diving event. Their strength was their breaststroke, as they finished 1st and 2nd in both events. This meet could have gone either way, as nine of the sixteen events had first place decided by a second or less.
