The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams continued the early portion of the 2017 to 2018 season on the road at Wheaton College this past Saturday. The men’s side picked up the victory with a score of 156-138, while the women fell short of the win, 191-104.

For the men’s team, Richard Selznick ’21 began to make a name for himself during the meet, as he starts his first collegiate season. Selznick took home the gold in three separate individual events. He earned the victory in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:50.84, and the 500-meter freestyle in just over five minutes. The 500-meter win, in particular, was very impressive, as no one was within 20 seconds of Selznick’s winning time.

Selznick captured his third and final individual victory in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:05.11. Other first-years had impressive afternoons, including Chase Chen ’21. Chen dominated the short-distance competition, earning the gold in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle events. He finished the 50-meter in a lighting-quick 22.64 seconds, and the 100-meter in 49.64 seconds. Marcelo Ohno-Machado ’21, another first-year, was right behind Chen in both races as the Judges’ second-best competitor in the short-distance events.

Other individual winners for the Judges were Zach Diamond ’18 and Tamir Zitelny ’20. Diamond helped the team capture every freestyle event when he finished first in the 1000-meter freestyle in 10:50.11. Zitelny took home the gold in the 100-meter fly with a time of 55.16 seconds. The final victory for the team came at the relay events, when the squad of first-years, Ohno-Machado, Selznick, Chen and Daniel Wohl ’21 finished the 400-meter relay with a time of 3:18.33. The time was good enough for the victory, edging out Wheaton by a mere 0.22 seconds.

For the women, the stars of the day were also the first-years. Talia Bornstein ’21 came up big for the Judges, dominating the long-distance races to the tune of two individual victories. Bornstein won the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 5:39.95, and the 1000-meter freestyle in 11:39.83. Also earning a victory for the squad was Emily McGovern ’21, who finished the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:33.97.

McGovern posted more impressive times throughout the day. She finished in second place during the 100-meter breastroke with a time of 1:11.21, less than half a second behind the first-place finisher from Wheaton. She also earned a fourth-place finish in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:23.59. In the race, the Judges actually captured second and third place as well. Natalya Wozab ’20 and Audrey Kim ’21 finished in second and third in the event, respectively.

In the diving portion of the meet, the Judges’ Julia Tartaglia ’19 placed third with a dive of 160.35, which was good for three points. Sam Zucker ’18 also finished in third place on the men’s side of the diving event.

Before Saturday, the team began its season with a non-scoring meet against Roger Williams University on Oct. 1. While there was no overall victor in the matchup, both the men’s and women’s teams had remarkable individual performances. For the men, Zitelny won the 100-meter butterfly by over a second. Zitelny also won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.90.  In the 100-yard breastroke, Zitelny claimed third place, while Wohl came out in first place with a time of 1:01.00. 

On the women’s side, Kim captured one of the individual titles for the Judges when she finished in first place in the 100-yard backstroke. Her time of 1:04.14 was enough to barely edge the second-place finisher from Roger Williams by a mere .32 seconds. In the 100-meter breastroke, McGovern and Wozab finished in second and third place with times of 1:11.98 and 1:13.50, respectively.

The Judges will next be in action on the road at Hartwick College on Friday followed by Vassar College on Saturday.