This past Saturday, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted both Bridgewater State University (BSU) Bears and Keene State University (KSU) Owls in a home dual meet whilst celebrating the swimming careers of the senior Judges. The women swept the meet, outscoring both opposing teams, while the men won against the KSU Owls, and fell to the BSU Bears.
Highlighting the five seniors, they all had fantastic final home meets representing the navy and white. Starting off for the senior Judges, Sam Dienstag ’24 won the 1,650 freestyle in 15:57.96 as well as the 500 in 4:47.65. His mile time was the 17th fastest in Division III men’s swimming so far this season. Coming off of an injury, this was a very successful second meet back for Dienstag. The other male senior, Ryan Schulken ’24, went on to finish second, third and fourth in the 100-yd breaststroke, 50 free and 50 fly respectively. His times were 1:05.65, 23.29 and 26.05 for each of his three events.
On the women’s side of the senior highlights, Monica Iizuka ’24 placed first in the 50 free in 25.62, and first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.53. Next, Maya Haubrich ’24 was second in the 50 free in 26.91, and third in the 50 backstroke with a time of 29.79. For the final senior Judge, Lexi Kaufman ’24 raced to third place in the 50 free with a time of 27.13 seconds, and fourth place in the 100 freestyle in 1:00.83 seconds. The women seniors also competed in each relay. In the 200 medley relay, the three seniors were joined by Audrey Teo ’26 to capture the win. In the 200 free relay, the seniors were joined by Jenna Wild ’26 who led them to another relay victory over the two opposing teams.
As for other wins by the Judges, Becca Kaplan ’26 won the women’s 1,650 free in 19:25.06 as well as the 50 breaststroke in 34.02. Next, Chloe Gonzalez ’25 won the 200 freestyle in 1:58.73 as well as the 500 free in 5:25.20, and the 50 butterfly in 26.94 seconds. Her most impressive win was the time of 1:58.73 in the 200 freestyle as that mark was more than 11 seconds ahead of second place. Then, Anastasia Bekou ’25 went on to win the 100 butterfly in 1:04.83. In the 100 free, Wild won in a time of 58.53 seconds. On the men’s side, Benjamin Lee ’25 also won the 200 free. His time was 1:48.80. Lee also won the 100 individual medley in a time of 56.65. Following Lee with men’s wins, Riley Pasicaran ’27 won the 100 backstroke in 56.42 seconds to close out the Brandeis wins for the day.
Looking ahead, the Judges will compete in their final dual meet of the season this weekend at Clark University. Then, the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships will be held on the weekend of Feb. 14 at the University of Chicago.
