Linsey Pool was surrounded by excitement as the Jury came out in support of the Brandeis women’s and men’s swim teams on Friday, Nov. 21. However, despite the high energy, the Judges couldn’t pull out the win against rival Bentley.
Even though the Judges couldn’t pull out the win, individuals from both of the Brandeis teams performed well. Brian Luk ’16 stood out among the crowd by winning the 50-yard free with a time of 22.16 and the 100-yard fly 54.06. Brandeis dominated the men’s long distance events with wins in the 1,000-yard and 500-yard free events from Max Fabian ’15. Rookies Zach Diamond ’18 and Joey Barr ’18 helped the Judges in the 1,000-yard event, coming in second and third. The Brandeis men’s team also won the 200-yard medley relay with the help of Edan Zitelny ’17, Luk, Cam Braz ’17 and Rich Avrutsky ’18 with a final time of 1:40.96. The men’s team lost to Bentley, 139-102.
“We have a great rivalry developing with Bentley,” said Fabian, the team captain. “Coming together and racing as a team is what makes this sport so fulfilling, and I feel like this meet provided us with a great opportunity to do that.”
The women had more trouble with Bentley, falling 156-74. Proving to be the best category for the Judges, the women managed to take home two wins in the long-distance events. Joanna Murphy ’17 grabbed both wins for the women’s team, in the 500-yard and 1,000-yard free events.
Despite the numbers, the meet was a huge improvement on the past two years. With the swim team having more than doubled in size since its inception two years ago, each team that they face is shocked by the abilities of the faster, bigger team. The Bentley coach told Brandeis Coach Michael Kotch that the team swam so well that it motivated the Bentley team to swim faster than they had swum all season.
“Our women’s team had only a few members last year, but fortunately they were all extraordinary … We are lucky to have brought in a new class of equally exceptional women, so I am really excited for the remainder of this season and to see what the future holds,” said Fabian.
The next meet for the men and women’s swim team will be at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Dec. 6-7 with trials starting at 9 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m. This will be the last meet of the semester for the Judges. The team will rest before the meet in order to get fast swims in before their training trip to Puerto Rico over winter break.
