On Saturday, Brandeis took a trip to Keene, New Hampshire to compete against the Keene State College Owls and the Bridgewater State University Bears. The women lost to the Owls 150-87 but were able to beat Bridgewater 157-77. The men’s squad was able to beat both schools. They defeated Keene State 155-69 and and Bridgewater State 123-112.

On the women’s’ side, the Judges were able to earn top three finishes in various events. Emily McGovern ’21 was able to take home first in the IM 200 in 2:23.08 and come in second in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:36.50. Annie Huang ’21, who had just won the University Athletic Association women’s swimmer of the week award back in December, was able to win the 100-meter at 57.38. Kylie Herman ’19 was able to place second in the 200, third in the 200 butterfly and second in the 500, with times of 2:04.03, 2:22.70 and 5:31.36, respectively, a strong showing. 

Early on in the season, the women’s squad had trouble putting wins on the board, losing it’s first four meets. However, it seems as though it has been able to turn things around, winning two of its last three. 

Led by recently-nominated UAA swimmer of the week, Tamir Zitelny ’20, and several rookies, the men’s side was able to dominate its competition. Richard Selznick ’21 won two races, including the 1000-meter freestyle in 10:14.52 and the 500-meter free in 5:02.48. Daniel Wohl ’21 also won two events, finishing the 200 free with a time of 1:47.25 and the backst roke in 2:18.85. Marcelo Ohno-Machado ‘21 was able to win the 100 free with a time of  249.97 and take second in the 200 (1:52.56). Zitelny posted a second-place finish in the 200 butterfly in 2:01.27, Joe Beletti-Naccarato ’21 earned second in the 200-backstroke at 2:05.11. With two impressive races, Chase Chen ’21 was able to pull off second place in the 50-meter and the 100-meter races with times of 23.16 and 50.11, respectively.

For the men, the season has been successful, as the squad is now 7-3 and only gaining momentum as the season progresses. When Zitelny was asked about his experience in the season so far, he first discussed winning the player of the week award: “Being the UAA athlete of the week last month was an awesome honor, being that Brandeis is in one of the most competitive conferences in all of Division III. Both myself and Annie [Huang ’21] received this honor in the same week, which made it even more special that both myself and her could represent Brandeis for the men and women’s side respectively.” When asked about the meet on Saturday, he shared, “Our meet yesterday truly shows our progression as a team from last season to now. I hope that our team’s ability to not only win this tri-meet two years in a row, but expand the gap from last year foreshadows the team’s success in the coming UAA championship meet at Emory in less than a month.”

Last year, the men’s squad finished in seventh and eighth place, respectively, in the two days of the UAA championship, led by then rookie Zitelny. The women’s squad also finished eighth in the championship, leaving room for improvement. Both sides have room to improve this season, and considering the upward trends both are on, the upcoming championship weeks should be promising and exciting to watch.

The team will take a nearby trip to Clark University for their final regular season meet on Feb. 3.