The men's and women's swimming and diving teams both traveled to Worcester Polytechnic Institute this Saturday-the men taking on both WPI and Babson and the women taking on WPI, Babson, and Smith College.

Even though both squads were defeated by significant margins, Brian Luk '16 had a positive outlook on the day; the closest margin of defeat for either team was 83 points.

"We learned that it is a process toward success when it comes to [University Athletic Association]," he said. "We look back and think about how we can improve in our races in hindsight, which can be extremely important to us individually or as a team later as the season goes on."

For the men, both Luk and Max Fabian '15 continue to be bright spots for a team that has had trouble finding early season success.

Luk managed to pick up wins in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle, while breaking his previous best time in the 200-yard freestyle. Luk swam the race in 1:46.45, a full 1.63 seconds faster than his previous best time.

He also managed to score second in the 50-yard freestyle, getting out-touched by WPI freshman Erick Burgwardt by .02 seconds. This marks the second time on the season that Luk has finished second in the 50-yard freestyle.

Luk was quick to share his optimism of the first-years on the team.
"I am impressed by the first-years," he said. "They are all very talented. They work hard every day, and I am sure they will do very well when it comes to UAA [Championships] by February,"

Fabian added a win of his own for the men in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:12.12. He also secured two second place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and the 400-yard Individual Medley. Fabian was bested in the 500-yard freestyle by just .15 seconds by Babson senior Isaac Breen-Franklin who pulled off an impressive display in the final 50-yard stretch of the race when he managed to overtake Fabian.

The 500-yard freestyle was emblematic of both the men's and women's struggles on the day.

Joanna Murphy '17 was the lone bright spot for the women on Saturday as she managed to pick up a win in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.57, just barely beating out WPI senior Sonja Kent, who had led for the first 100 yards of the race. Murphy also managed to place third in the 200-yard butterfly while setting a personal best on the season with a time of 2:23.45. She also finished in fifth place in the 100-yard butterfly.

Other top-five finishes by the women included Theresa Gaffney '16 in the 1000-yard freestyle, Fallon Bushee '16 in the 100-yard freestyle, and Gabby Drillich '15 in the 200-yard backstroke and 400-yard individual medley
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Murphy and Luk are the young future that the swimming program has been looking for. The program has had trouble trying to grow in numbers over the past few years and in attracting talent to the small yet dedicated group.

The process has been difficult after the closing of the pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center forced the aquatics teams to be put on hiatus after the 2009 to 2010 season. Head coach Mike Kotch was hired in 2011 and tasked with rebuilding the program. While the performance in the pool is what the team focuses on week in and week out, it can be difficult when recruitment continues to be a major issue going forward for both of the teams.

Luk thought that the team did well when it came to the aspects that the team could control.

"I don't see any major problem that the team has in general," he explained. "We are all training very hard and this meet, along with any other meets going forward, are opportunities for everyone to practice racing and preparing for the UAA championship meet."

Both the men's and women's teams will try to get their first wins of the season when they host Wesleyan University on November 16th in the Linsey Pool.