The men's and women's swimming and diving teams participated in their second competition of the season in the Mini-University Athletic Association meet at the University of Rochester last Friday and Saturday.

In addition to Rochester, the Judges faced New York University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Case Western Reserve University over the two-day meet that featured 41 events.

The big story for the Judges was the performance of Max Fabian '15 in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Not only did he win the race, but he also shattered the school record by seven seconds with a time of 16 minutes, 36.09 seconds.
"He kept a good tempo throughout, while most of the other swimmers slowed down," said David Lazarovich '16.

All of Fabian's 50-yard splits hung around 30 seconds, but Fabian picked up the pace at precisely the right times, completing his first 200 yards in less than two minutes and finishing his final 100 yards in less than one minute. Fabian swam stroke-for-stroke against Carnegie freshman Christopher Wysocki, whom he eventually beat by four seconds.

Given Fabian's emergence in the first few meets of the season, there is the potential that he could qualify for the 1,650 at the NCAA Division III Championship meet.
"I'm sure if Fabian works on it, he'll have [the qualifying time] by the end of the season," Lazarovich said.

Fabian would have to cut off about 40 seconds to qualify for the meet. Although that figure may sound intimidating, his teammates believe that he has the potential to improve his time.

Fabian also competed in the 200-yard individual medley, coming in 13th, the 200-yard freestyle, placing 16th, the 200-yard butterfly, taking 11th, the 500-yard free-style, snagging 10th and 400-yard individual medley, finishing 12th.

The men are a small and young team, composed of only three seniors, one junior, two sophomores, and three freshmen. Lazarovich, along with Brian Luk '16, have had success in the young season. They both won races last week against Wheaton College, and were not far off from their winning times at Rochester this weekend.

The female Judges have plenty of youth in common with the men's team. Three years removed from its last season, the team is looking to build a young core for the future. And it was the younger Judges who registered the top performances at Rochester this weekend.

Lauren Cruz '16, who won the 200-yard backstroke last week against Wheaton College, competed in the 200-yard individual medley and finished 13th overall with a time of 2:24.02. She also swam the 200-yard freestyle in 2:08.71, placing 15th. Meanwhile, diver Eliza Koppelman '15 scored 160.90 points in the one-meter dive, placing seventh. She also placed eighth in the three-meter dive, posting 131.40 points.

"It was a tough meet in general because we were competing against top schools," she said. "There were bigger teams who were tougher than us."

While dual meets feature two teams going head-to-head, exposure to larger and more experienced schools will certainly pay dividends later in the season and in the long run due to the experience of competing against more seasoned squads.

"We pulled through together because our competition was so strong," said Ruth Zeilicovich '14.

The Judges resume competition Saturday at Roger Williams University.