The Brandeis University swimming and diving team headed off to Bristol, RI for their first contest of the fall season, taking on the hosts of Roger Williams University. As a whole, the team won 12 events across a total of 32 races. Unfortunately, the scores favored the Hawks, as the men fell 141.5 to 138.5, getting beat out by just three points. On the women’s side, the Judges’ 105 points could not overcome Roger William’s score of 175 points.
Tamir Zitelny ’20 was most successful for the Judges, winning three events personally, as well as helping the team to victory as part of a relay squad. For these impressive performances, he was named as the University Athletic Association’s (UAA) male swimmer of the week for the week of Oct. 13. This is his third time to receive such an honor over the course of his career.
Zitelny started off with the 50-yard backstroke, recording a speedy time of 24.52 seconds. This allowed for him to out-swim his nearest opponent by over a second. Next came the 50-yard freestyle, where he ended with a time of 22.49 seconds, posting a 0.41 second advantage over the second place swimmer. Lastly, Zitelny polished off the 100-yard backstroke in a 53.80 second fashion, winning the race by 1.56 seconds. In the relay, Zitelny joined Daniel Wohl ’21, Matthew Arcement ’20 and Marcel-Ohno Machado ’21 for the 200-yard freestyle relay. The men finished with a time of 1:28.95 to seal the win by 0.6 seconds.
In addition to the relay, Wohl was also successful in both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle, coming in first place in both events. In the former, he was able to end with a time of 1:47.55 and in the latter with a time of 5:03.32. Richard Selznick ’21 would follow right behind Wohl 0.19 seconds later in the 500, good for second place. In an even longer event, Selznick continued on to win the 1000-yard freestyle race, coming in with a time of 10:24.16. Brendon Lu ’22 came in close behind to harness a second place standing. He finished in 10:25.90 as he swam this distance for the very first time, making this time his personal record. Lastly for the Judges, Arcemont and Joshua Liu ’23 tied each other in the 100-yard individual medley. The two teammates finished their swim at exactly 57.68 seconds to edge out the Hawk sitting in third place by just three-fourths of a second.
For the women, it was Bailey Gold ’23 who found wins in two events. She raced in the 200-yard freestyle and recorded a time of 2:02.99. This feat fostered a large gap between Gold and the second place finisher from Roger Williams, with Gold beating her out by almost four whole seconds. In the 50-yard butterfly, Gold came in with a time of 27.70 seconds to take first place. Following directly behind her was Christina McPhillips ’23, who finished just 0.16 seconds later than Gold. McPhillips continued on to win the 100-yard butterfly in a 1:01.03 fashion, making this a win by about a half a second.
For the female distance swimmers, Abbie Etzweiler ’22 performed well in both the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle events, winning first and second place respectively. In the shorter race, Etzwiler came in from behind to capture a time of 5:43.79, edging out the runner-up by only 1.2 seconds. Lastly in the 1000-yard event, she was awarded second place with a time of 11:55.85.
The Judges return to the pool this upcoming weekend at the Hartwick Relays in New York.
