The Judges hit the road last weekend as they traveled to Rochester for their first road meet of the season.
On the men’s side, Max Fabian ’15 continued his record-setting performance from the first meet of the season as he demolished another school record, winning the 1650 freestyle with a time of 16:36.09, defeating Chris Wysocki of Carnegie Mellon by more than four seconds. Fabian’s time was more than eight seconds faster than the previous record set by Robert Morse in 2009. Fabian rounded out his day with a 10th place finish in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:01.54.
Fabian transferred from Division III Connecticut College where he participated on their swimming team. Additionally, he has been swimming competitively for the past 14 years. He was attracted to Brandeis for other reasons but when he heard the team was being reinstated he inquired.
“I came down and met Coach Kotch and I was excited about the program he was building,” Fabian said. “The entire team has a great attitude. People show up to practice and non-mandatory practices. Everyone is really close knit and is striving for the same thing.”
Brian Luk ’16 finished eighth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.69 seconds while also placing 14th with a time of 22.98 seconds in the 50 freestyle.
Holly Spicer ’13 excelled for the women’s squad with two top-eight finishes. In the 200 breaststroke, she came in fifth place with a time of 2:36.54, just 4.01 seconds out of first place. Her fifth place finish was the best result for the entire women’s squad and was behind Fabian for the best finish of the entire team.
Spicer also placed seventh in the 100 breaststroke, finishing with a time of 1:11.91, only half a second from another top-five finish.
Diver Eliza Kopelman ’15 also turned in a pair of top-eight performances. She came in seventh in the one-meter event with a score of 160.90 and eighth in her first three-meter event of the year with a score of 131.40.
Fallon Bushee ’16 barely missed a top-10 finish in the 50 freestyle, placing 11th with a time of 26.29 seconds, only .05 seconds out of 10th place.
Fay Laborio ’16 rounded out the competition for the Judges, finishing in 10th place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:07.43.
Brandeis once again showed that in their short time back, they can compete with the best competition as they faced Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, NYU and Rochester, all of which are among the top teams in the nation.
The Judges will face Roger Williams University this Saturday at home at 1 p.m. where they will look to build on their fast start to the season.
