On Oct. 17, the Brandeis Judges’ men’s and women’s swim teams traveled to Oneonta, New York to begin the 2023-2024 season at the 2023 Hartwick Relays. Among six teams competing, the Judges’ women’s team was able to win the event while the men’s team placed third. The women’s team won eight of the 10 races and the men won two of 10. The Judges were also able to win the meet’s lone mixed relay.

The 800-yard freestyle relay event showed the best performance for Brandeis at the meet. Here, the women’s team reached a 10-second win with a time of 9:30.02 from the team of Monica Iizuka ’24, Audrey Teo ’26, Sophia Pulaski ’27 and Jenna Wild ’26. The men’s team, meanwhile, scored a win despite a nearly eight-second deficit in the end of the race—only over one second in front of the second-place winners. The men finished with a time of 8:21.31 from the team of Sam Dienstag ’24, Gerald Deng ’25, Sam Bundy ’26 and Benjamin Lee ’26. 

The Judges also found total victory in the 850-yard free relay event, which was composed of successive legs of 50, 100, 200 and 500 yards. The women’s team won the event by five seconds with a time of 9:08.42. Participating swimmers in the women’s event were Iizuka, Wild, Chloe Gonzalez ’25 and Becca Kaplan ’26. The men’s team won with a time of 7:48.50—over 20 seconds above second place. The swimmers in the men’s event were Avi Borgen ’27, Ryan Schulken ’24, Fischer Caplin ’25 and Dienstag.

In the mixed 200-yard medley event, the Judges’ team, composed of Anastasia Bekou ’25, Lee, Maya Haubrich ’24 and Dienstag, scored a five-second win with a time of 1:46.60.

Next, the Judges’ swim team will host Vassar College this Saturday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m.