There was something special in the water for the Brandeis swimming and diving teams during last Sunday’s Eastern College Athletic Conference Open Championships. The Judges took the pressure of competing against the top schools on the East Coast and turned it into three new school records, leading the teams to top finishes among competing Division III schools.
Marc Eder ’12 had the highlight performances for the men’s team. In the 200-yard breaststroke, he managed a fifth-place finish, swimming a very strong 2:05.57; this waould be Brandeis’ highest placing of the meet. He also qualified for the consolation final in the 100-yard breaststroke, where his time of 58.78 left him in 14th place overall after a very tight race.
Eder also had a chance to prove himself a strong team player. He joined Daniel Danon ’13, Aaron Bennett ’11 and James Liu ’10 for the 400-yard medley relay, and their preliminary round time of 3:31.77 broke a Brandeis record that had stood since 2005 by .77 of a second. Unfortunately, the team was disqualified in the final round, preventing them from placing and earning points.
Among the other strong performances for the men were Liu’s 19th place finish in the 100-yard butterfly and 17th place in the 100-yard freestyle, Danon’s 20th place finish in the 100-yard butterfly and 17th place in the 100-yard backstroke, and Bennett’s 17th place finish in the 200-yard butterfly.
Bennett’s race was particularly notable for his time of 1:54.63, which broke the school record of 1:55.37 that he set last year.
The diving of Dana Simms ’11 set the pace for the women, as she scored points for the team in both diving events.
In the one-meter dive, her score of 169.80 left her in tenth place, just outside of the eight-diver final round.
She followed that with a 133.55 in the three-meter dive, placing her twelfth.
Angela Chui ’12 was almost as successful in the races, earning solid finishes amidst crowed fields. Her first individual event was the 200-yard individual medley, and she finished 14th with a 2:11.52. She earned the same position in the 400-yard IM, clocking 4:37.70.
Hollis Viray ’10 snagged the third school record by swimming the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:24.28, more than two seconds faster than her previous record time from 2009; this left her in 11th place overall. She also took 17th in the 400-yard breaststroke.
These three record times mean that a total of 19 Brandeis records have been set in 2009 and 2010, a testament to the recent strength of both the men’s and women’s teams.
Final results from the ECAC Championships showed the men with 43 points, good for 16th in the meet, and the women with 30 points, putting them in 19th. The Judges will be swimming only one more time this season, during the NCAA Championships from March 18th through the 21st.
