On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 22, the Brandeis University men’s and women’s swim and dive teams traveled to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York for their first dual meet of the year. The men won their matchup 183.5 to 97.5, while the women’s score was 165-119 in favor of Vassar. On the men’s side, the Judges won 12 out of 16 events. Their standout performers were junior Sam Dienstag ’24 and sophomore Allen Hawkins ’25. Dienstag swept the distance events on the day. With times of 4:37.32 in the 500 free and 9:32.48 in the 1000 free, Dienstag is ranked first in the country in both of those events at the moment. Dienstag was also a member of the winning 200 medley and 400 free relays. Dienstag was joined by senior Benton Ferebee ’22 and first-years Benjamin Lee ’26 and Eric Xiao ’26 for both relays.
The 200 medley relay team finished with a time of 1:39.35, and the 400 free relay finished with a time of 3:16.82. Hawkins swept the breaststroke events for the first time in his career, winning the 100 breast with a time of 1:04.57 and the 200 breast with a time of 2:21.12. First-year diver David Zavala ’26 competed for the first time this season, coming in second with a score of 105.55.
On the women’s side, the Judges won six out of the 16 events. Their standout performers were senior Bailey Gold ’22 and first-year Nicole Caruso ’26. Caruso swept the distance events in the first dual meet of her Brandeis career. She won the 1000 free with a time of 11:02.75 and the 500 free with a time of 5:24.71. She was also a part of the second-place 400 freestyle relay with junior Monica Iizuka ’24, senior Ema Rennie ’22 and fellow first-year Jenna Wild ’26, finishing with a time of 3:45.25. Gold swept the fly events. She won the 200 fly with a time of 2:11.23 and the 100 fly with a time of 59.85. She was a part of the winning 200 medley relay with Iizuka, first-year Jasmine Huang ’26 and Rennie. First-year diver Summer Coronesi ’26 also competed for the first time this season, coming in second with a score of 175.75.
The Judges are back in action Friday, Nov. 4 when they travel to Worchester Polytechnic Insitute (WPI) to take on WPI and Babson College in a tri-meet.
