On Feb. 12, the Judges swim and Dive teams attended the UAA (University Athletic Association) championships at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The event opened with the men’s and women’s teams competing in the 800-yard freestyle relay events. The men’s relay team consisted of Benjamin Lee ’26, Sam Bundy ’26, Tal Spector ’25 and Luke Abrahamson ’27. They finished the event in eighth place with a time of 7:05.40. The women’s relay team consisted of Chloe Gonzalez ’25, Anastasia Bekou ’25, Rebecca Kaplan ’26 and Jenna Wild ’26. They also came in eighth place with their time of 7:58.14.
On day two, the Judges competed in the preliminaries. Gonzalez raced in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing in 30th and setting a personal record (PR) with her time of 24.63 seconds. That time was the third best in Judges history. Wild finished with a time of 5:30.29 in the 500-yard freestyle, good for 39th place. Kaplan came in 40th in the 200 individual medley (IM) with a time of 2:15.95. For the men’s team, Lee had the highest finish, coming in 34th place in the 200 IM with a time of 1:55.38. Riley Pasicaran ’26 also competed in the 200 IM and finished 40th with a time of 2:02.28. Abrahamson came in 35th in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:58.73. Shortly behind him with a time of 5:09.50 was Douglas Chen ’28, who placed 37th.
Also on day two, the Judges participated in the relay finals. The men’s 200-yard freestyle relay team was composed of Eric Xiao ’26, Spector, Solomon Skelton-Harris ’26 and Peter Mou ’28. They finished eighth with a time of 1:27.19, within three seconds of seventh place. The men’s 400 medley team also finished eighth with a time of 3:32.57. That team was composed of Pasicaran, Xiao, Mou and Lee. The women’s 200 freestyle team of Gonzalez, Bekou, Audrey Teo ’26 and Wild also finished in eighth with a time of 1:41.23. The women’s 400 medley team of Bekou, Kaplan, Gonzales and Wild also finished in eighth place with a time of 4:02.08.
On day three, six Judges were able to qualify for the finals. Gonzalez finished 19th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.78 seconds, just one second behind the school record. Bekou finished 20th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.36 seconds, setting a PR with the third-fastest time in Brandeis history. Kaplan came in 24th in the 400 IM with a time of 4:54.12, while Teo had her own 24th place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:10.79. For the men’s team, Bundy and AJ Martinez ‘26 both participated in the 400-yard IM. Bundy came in 22nd with a time of 4:15.25. Martinez was 24th with a time of 4:25.16. Also on day three were the finals for the 200 IM relay. The women’s team of Bekou, Kaplan, Eva Parson ‘25 and Teo placed eighth with a time of 1:53.46. The men’s team of Pasicaran, Xiao, Lee and Mou also finished eighth with a time of 1:35.78.
On day four, Bundy placed 18th in the 1,650-yard freestyle with his time of 16:32.94, setting a PR. In his final career competition, Spector finished 24th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:57.29. The only woman to score in an individual event for the Judges was Bekou, who finished 24th in the 200-yard backstroke. Her time of 2:09.32 was a PR by more than three seconds. Gonzalez missed the finals by 0.13 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle with her 26th-place time of 53.33 seconds. Sophia He ’28 also just missed the finals, coming in 25th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:28.54. The Judges again came in eighth in the last relay events of the season. The women’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Gonzalez, Bekou, Teo and Wild finished with a time of 3:42.77. The men’s team of Xiao, Lee, Skelton-Harris and Mou finished with a time of 3:07.41.
The Emory University Eagles won the UAA title for this season. Both the Brandeis men’s and women’s teams finished the UAA finals with 322 points, earning both teams an eighth-place finish for the season. The Judges will be back next season for more swimming.
