This past weekend the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams concluded their seasons at the University Athletic Association championships at the University of Rochester.
The women’s team saw a successful championship as they set records in both women’s freestyle relays. The Judges set a mark in the 400 free relay on day one and in the 800 on day two. The 800 free relay team of Joanna Murphy ’17, Maya Saar ’18, Amy Sheinhait ’18 and Kylie Herman ’19 broke the record which had stood since 2008, shaving two seconds off with a time of 8:05.37. On day three the women’s team achieved the relay record in the 400 and 200, the team consisting of Herman, Ariana Traub ’18, Sherry Tu ’18 and Sheinhait. However, the records set by the swim team only earned them eighth place in the UAA competition.
Herman was the only woman to reach the final rounds of the tournament. In the last individual event of the competition, Herman finished 20th in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:13.65. With this time she achieved the fourth fastest time in Brandeis program history. Herman added a 22nd place finish in the 200 yard freestyle, with a time of 1:56.90 to her overall finished in the tournament. Her freestyle time was four-hundredths of a second off from a school record put in place seven years ago.
On the men’s team Edan Zitelny ’17 was the top overall individual for Brandeis University. Zitelny earned two top 20 finishes on the last day of the competition, improving his third best time in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:55.23, which put him in 18th place overall. Zitelny also swam a 1:58.27 in the 200 butterfly, earning him 20th place. Zitelny also broke a record standing since 2002 with a time of 25.06 seconds in the 50 yard backstroke of the 200 yard medley relay.
Brandeis distance swimmers held their own as women’s record holder Joanna Murphy finished 14th overall, but first in her heat of the mile swim with a time of 18:01.65. Editor-in-chief of The Brandeis Hoot Theresa Gaffney ’16 finished 23rd for the women in the mile with a time of 19:31.40. Meanwhile for the men’s team, Zach Diamond ’18 scored three points in the mile with a time of 16:46.75. Diamond also earned the Judges a point in the 400 yard individual medley with a 24th place finish and a time of 4:14.67. This finish improved Diamond’s fifth best time in program history. As for Brandeis diving, Sam Zucker ’18 placed 11th on the three meter board and 13th in the one meter diving competition.
Overall Brandeis finished in eighth place with a women’s score of 331 points, while the men finished with 310 points.
