The Brandeis University swimming and diving teams headed on over to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT for a dual meet. Although the Judges dropped their dual meet, Olivia Stebbins ’22 and Tamir Zitelny ’20 were double winners.
The women were defeated 157-131 but were led by Stebbins who swept the breaststroke events, winning the 100 yard breaststroke by four seconds over fellow teammate Christina McPhillips ’23 with a time of 1:12.90. She also edged McPhillips in the 200 yard winning by a margin of 0.82 seconds, with a time of 2:42.37. McPhillips recorded her personal best with a time of 2:43.19 in the 200.
In addition, Bailey Gold ’23 continued her standout season with a pair of runner-up finishes in the backstroke events. She was half a second behind the winning time in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:02.61 and was close in the 200 yard breaststroke, finishing 0.17 seconds behind the winning time, 2:13.09. Gold also brought home third place in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:31.81.
On the men’s side, the Judges were also defeated as they fell to the number 12 ranked Washington University Bears, 171-114. Zitelny led the way, as he captured the 100-yard backstroke with a season best time of 52.93 seconds, edging his opponent by just over a quarter of a second. In the 100 butterfly he came away with a victory with a time of 51.55 seconds. Coming in second in a pair of races was Daniel Wohl ’21 as he posted a season best in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:56.10, coming up just 0.13 seconds short of first place. In the 200 yard freestyle, he finished runner up with a time of 1:46.34, nearly four seconds behind the winner.
In their second dual meet of the week, both teams lost in their home meet against nationally-ranked Tufts University. The men fell to the No. 11-ranked Jumbos, 222-74, while the women dropped a 252-44 decision to the No. 8 Tufts squad. Three Judges would pick up individual wins in the process.
All three wins came on the men’s side, as Wohl got things going with the first win, taking the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.71, edging the runner-up from Tufts by 0.14 seconds. He also finished runner-up in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.85 seconds. Also claiming wins was Brendon Lu ’22 as he touched first in the 100-yard breaststroke, winning by one-tenth of a second over his opponent with a time of 1:01.77. Lu also had a third place finish in the 200 medley with a time of 2:02.13. He scored one additional point by finishing in fifth place in the 50-yard breaststroke. Lastly, Zitelny rounded out the Judges winners, claiming the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 23.71 seconds, more than half a second ahead of the runner up. He also had a second-place finish in the 50-yard backstroke in which he was edged by 0.14 seconds.
On the women’s side, the top performances were third place finishes from Gold in the backstroke with a time of 1:03.36 and Stebbins in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 33.52 seconds.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be back in action on Friday, Dec. 6 at the Gompei Invitational, hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
