Within the past few weeks, the Swim & Dive teams have brought their seasons into full-swing as they have already competed in three meets. Most recently, they traveled to Worcester, MA for a series of dual meets hosted by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Engineers. Along with the Judges and Engineers, the Babson College Beavers and US Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) Bears were also at this meet. Additionally, the all-girls Smith College Pioneers were at this meet on the women’s side. The Judges made a splash with their nine top-five finishes throughout this competition.
On the women’s side, the Judges were paced by senior captain Chloe Gonzalez ’25 as she won two events. First, she won the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 54.33, then she went on to win the 200 free in a time of 1:58.64. She also placed third in the butterfly, swimming to a time of 1:00.88.
Another top-five performance on the women’s side was earned by Anastasia Bekou ’25 who swam to a fourth-place finish in the women’s backstroke. She finished in a time of 30.07. She also went on to earn a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke and a ninth-place finish in the 200-yard IM.
Other notable performances for the female Judges were a fifth-place finish for Bekou ’25, Gonzalez ’25, Audrey Teo ’26 and Eva Parson ’25 in the 200-yard medley relay, Rebecca Kaplan ’26 placing sixth in the 1000-yard freestyle, Jenna Wild ’26 placing ninth in the 200-yard freestyle and tenth in the 500-yard freestyle, Sam Slater ’26 placing ninth in the 200-yard backstroke, Teo ’26 placing seventh in the breaststroke and to cap it off the Judges also earned an eighth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a team of Parson ’25, Kaplan ’26, Teo ’26 and Wild ’26.
On the men’s side of things, Peter Mou ’28 had the best performance of the day as he earned a second place finish in the 50-free in a time of 21.70 and a third place finish in the 100-free with a time of 47.79 seconds.
Eric Xiao ’26 also had a strong performance place-wise as he reached the top five in the 50-free with a time of 22.17 seconds.
The last couple top-five finishes for the Judges were earned by a set of juniors, Benjamin Lee ’26 and Sam Bundy ’26. Lee ’26 placed third in the 200-free 200 in a time of 1:47.45 while Bundy ’26 placed third in the 1000 with a time of 10:31.28.
Other notable performances for the Judges’ men were a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay by Riley Pasicaran ’27, Lee ’26, Eric Xiao ’26 and Mou ’28, a seventh-place finish in the 1000 by Douglas Chen ’28, Pasicaran ’27 swimming to ninth place in the 100 and 200 backstroke, Xiao ’26 tenth in the 100 breaststroke and ninth in the 100 free, Bundy ’26, AJ Martinez ’26 and Tal Spector ’25 going 7-8-9 in the 200-yard butterfly, Bundy ’26 earning eighth place in the 500 freestyle, Lee ’26 sixth in the 200 IM and finally an eighth place finish in the 400 free relay by a team of Lee ’26, Chen ’28, Spector ’25 and Mou ’28 to close it out for the men.
Though the Judges did not win any of the dual competitions against their competitors on the team side of things, their abundance of notable performances speak for themselves.
More recently, the Judges traveled to the neighboring Bentley University for a dual meet against our long-time hometown rivals.
Neither the men nor women won from a team standpoint, but they did continue to perform well individually.
On the women’s side, Gonzalez ’25 continued to lead our women as she swept three freestyle events; 100, 200 and 500-yards.
Bekou ’25 followed closely behind Chloe’s lead as she placed second in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke races.
On the men’s side, Mou ’28 also continued leading the men along with three juniors; Bundy ’26, Lee ’26 and Xiao ’26. Mou ’28 placed first in both of his individual events; the 50 and 100-yard free. Bundy ’26 placed first in the 200-yard butterfly. Lee ’26 placed second in the 200 free and first in the 500 free. To round it out for top-scoring men, Xaio ’26 finished first in the 100-yard butterfly.
Looking ahead, the Judges have this coming weekend off, and then they will get back to competing in two weeks when they host the Tufts University Jumbos in a home meet on Nov. 24. To stay up to date with your swimmer-Judges, make sure to follow them on Instagram and keep up to date with their season on the Brandeis Athletics Website.
