On Jan. 21, the Judges traveled to Bridgewater State University to compete in their annual tri-meet. The teams competing were Brandeis, Bridgewater and Keene State College. Last year at Keene State, the men’s team defeated them 156-101, while the women’s team fell 129-140. This year was a different story as both the men’s team and women’s team won their individual meets for the day. The men’s team narrowly beat Bridgewater 134-133 and Keene State 152-111. On the women’s side, the Judges defeated Bridgewater 178-107 and Keene State 149-138.
The women’s team won many individual events on the day. In the 200-yard medley relay, a group consisting of junior Monica Iizuka ’24, first-year Becca Kaplan ’26, senior Bailey Gold ’23 and senior Ema Rennie ’23 finished in first for the Judges with a time of 1:52.54. Right behind them was a group consisting of junior Maya Haubrich ’24, first-year Audrey Teo ’26, sophomore Chloe Gonzalez ’25 and sophomore Eva Parson ’25 with a time of 1:55.95. First-year Nicole Caruso ’26 followed with a win in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:02.46. Kaplan and Teo finished in first and second respectively for the 50-yard breaststroke. Kaplan finished in 32.16, while Teo finished right behind her in 32.95. Gold won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.97. The Judges finished in first and second again, this time in the 50-yard freestyle. Gonzalez finished in first with a time of 25.42 and Iizuka finished in second with a time of 25.98. First-year Summer Coronesi ’26 finished in second place for the one-meter diving event with 196.85 points. For the 100-yard breaststroke, the Judges finished in first and second. Teo and first-year Sophia Kriegsman ’26 swam 1:12.12 and 1:17.04 respectively. Haubrich and Gonzalez followed the race with first and second place finishes of their own in the 500-yard freestyle. Gonzalez finished in 5:31.62, which was just under a second behind Haubrich’s time of 5:30.38. In the 50-yard butterfly, Gold won the race with a time of 27.37. First-year Sophia Stewart ’26 and senior Aria Smith ’23 capped off the day for the team by finishing in second and third respectively for the 400-yard individual medley (IM). Stewart ended in 4:57.99 and Smith ended in 5:19.99.
Similar to the women’s team, the men’s team also won many individual events. They started by winning the 200-yard medley relay with a group consisting of senior Benton Ferebee ’23, first-year Eric Xiao ’26, senior James Smith ’23 and junior Sam Dienstag ’24. The group finished in 1:37.37 which was nearly six seconds faster than second place. This performance was followed by a win in the 1000-yard freestyle for freshman Sam Bundy ’26. He finished in 10:21.34 with a 12-second margin of victory. In the 200-yard freestyle, Brandeis finished in first, second and third place. Smith finished in first place with a time of 1:48.47 and was followed shortly by sophomore Andrew Ngo ’25 with a time of 1:49.37. Junior Ryan Schulken ’24 was next to finish in 1:51.93. Ferebee continued the strong day for Brandeis with a first place finish in the 50-yard backstroke. His 25.50 time was a second faster than second place. Sophomore Allen Hawkins ’25 then finished in second place for the 50-yard breaststroke. His time of 29.76 was just under a second behind first place. In the 100-yard butterfly, the Judges finished in first and second place. Sophomore Gerald Deng ’25 won the race with a time of 56.38 and first-year AJ Martinez was right behind him with a time of 57.57. First-year Solomon Skelton-Harris ’26 ended in second place in the 50-yard freestyle. His 23.04 time was just .04 seconds behind first place. First-year David Zavala ’26 won the one-meter diving event with a score of 139.50. Skelton-Harris and Schulken finished in second and third place for the 100-yard freestyle with times 50.88 and 51.11 respectively. Sophomore Tal Spector ’25 came in second place for the 500-yard freestyle after finishing in 5:09.54. He was followed by Deng in 5:15.0 in third place. Smith then proceeded to win the 50-yard butterfly in 23.31, which was over two seconds faster than second place. Martinez came in second place for the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:36.60 to cap the day for the Judges.
Brandeis will end January with a home meet against Clark University on Jan. 28. The event will also be the team’s Senior Day and the last meet before the University Athletic Association Championships in Atlanta, Georgia.
