The Brandeis swim and dive team closed out 2022 with record breaking times in their midseason championship meet, the Gompei Invitational, hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). On day one of the three-day championship meet, the Judges set six new school records. On day two, two records were broken. On the final day of competition, five team records were set.
Senior swimmer Bailey Gold ’23 found incredible success at the Gompei Invitational, finishing the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.79; her time not only allowed her to finish second, but it also allowed her to break the Brandeis school record, which she previously held, by 0.36 seconds. On day two of competition, Gold broke another one of her records in the 200-yard freestyle by 0.1 seconds with a time of 1:55.89; she placed fourth for finals. On the final day of competition, Gold broke her own 200-yard butterfly record, placing second with a time of 2:06.44. Veteran swimmer Ema Rennie ’23 also found success throughout the midseason championship meet. Day one, Rennie placed first in the 50-yard freestyle while simultaneously breaking her own school record with a time of 23.97 taking 0.04 off her record. On day two, Rennie broke Gold’s 50-yard butterfly record by 0.27 with a time of 25.85 to place first for the finals. On the final day of competition, Rennie broke another record: her own 100-yard freestyle record, to be exact, placing third for the finals in 52.80 seconds.
The Judges also set records in both of their relays on day one: the 200-yard medley relay and the 800-yard relay medley. Monica Iizuka ’24, Becca Kaplan ’26, Gold and Rennie finished third with a time of 1:46.84, knocking six tenths of a second off the previous 200-yard relay medley Brandeis record; and Jenna Wild ’26, Nicole Caruso ’26 and Gold finished second in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:52.31, 0.35 seconds faster than the previous record.
Independently, Iizuka was a top finish at the Gompei Invitational, placing third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.79, as well as Anastasia Beko ’25 who finished fifth overall with a time of 1:02.97 in the 100-yard individual medley.
The Brandeis male swim and dive team was also successful at the midseason championship meet hosted by WPI, as the Judges had 17 individual swims qualify for finals on day one of competition. Sam Dienstag ’24 broke his previous school record in the 500-yard freestyle by almost four seconds, placing first in the finals with a time of 4:26.99. On day two, Dienstag placed first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.49. To round out the meet, Dienstag won the 1650-yard freestyle, breaking his own school record with a time of 15:27.32.
A few additional Judges had some noteworthy performances, including veteran Benton Ferebee ’23 who placed first in the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 24.53, as well as first-year Eric Cherny ’26 who placed sixth with a time of 23.80 in the 50-yard butterfly.
The Judges finished day one in seventh place out of 10 with 1012; day two with 2247.5 points placing them in fifth place out of 10. At the end of the meet, the Judges combined for sixth place out of 10 teams, with a total of 3519 points.
The Judges will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. in a tri-meet against Keene State and Bridgewater State.
