Since our last publication, the Judges’ swim & dive team has made waves in their 2024-25 season competition. They have since faced the Tufts University Jumbos at home. Though neither team won the meet, each team had several stand-out performances that are something to be proud of.
Starting off on the women’s side, Chloe Gonzalez ’25 continued to lead our lady Judges. She placed in the top three for each of her individual events; first place in the 200-yd freestyle, second place in the 100-yd freestyle and first place in the 50-yd butterfly.
Other notable top-five performances on the women’s side were Jenna Wild ’26 who swam to fifth in the 200-yd freestyle and Anastasia Bekou ’25 who claimed second place in the 50-yd backstroke. Lauren Balfour ’27 followed closely behind in the same race, earning fifth place. In the 50-yd breaststroke, Rebecca Kaplan ’26 and Samantha Slater ’26 got third and fifth place, respectively. Slater ’26 then doubled back to get another fifth place in the 50-yd freestyle. In the 100-yd backstroke, Bekou ’25 and Sophia He ’28 earned second and fifth place. In the 100-yd breaststroke, Kaplan ’26 got second, Audrey Teo ’26 got third and Slater ’26 earned another fifth place. To close out the top-five performances were Wild ’26 who got fourth in the 500-yd freestyle, and Bekou ’25 who placed fifth in the 100-yd IM.
On the men’s side, no Judges placed first in their events, though they were led by some strong swimming from the Junior class.
Starting off the top-five performances on the men’s side was a strong swim by Sam Bundy ’26 who placed second in the 1000-yd freestyle. His classmate Benjamin Lee ’26 then placed third in the 200-yd freestyle. To follow, Riley Pasicaran ’27 and Jason Yan ’28 went two and four in the 50-yd backstroke. In the 50-yd breaststroke, Erix Xiao ’26 placed fourth. In the 100-yd butterfly, the Judges earned third and fifth with Peter Mou ’28 and AJ Martinez ’26. The Judges also had great representation in the 50-yd freestyle with a second place by Xiao ’26, a fourth place by Solomon Skelton-Harris ’26, and a fifth place from Yan ’28. Skelton-Harris ’26 and Mou ’28 then went four and five in the 100-yd freestyle. In the backstroke, Pasicaran ’27 got third and Yan ’28 got fourth. In the 100-yd breaststroke, Daniyal Nabi ’28 placed fourth. Xiao ’26 then showed his prowess in the butterfly, placing third. To close things out for our men’s individual events, Lee ’26, Pasicaran ’27 and Brian Kim ’28 placed third, fourth and fifth in the 100-yd IM.
Though the Judges did not put up the same amount of overall points as the Jumbos, it came down to the number of swimmers in each event. With the Tufts roster being significantly deeper than that of the Judges, it was inevitable that they would outscore us. What is notable is the number of notable finishes by the Judges.
Looking ahead, the Judges will face the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) this coming weekend as a part of the Gompei Invitational at WPI. This will be the Judges’ final meet before the semester ends.
