WALTHAM, Mass.- In the first home meet of the season for the Brandeis University swimming and diving teams, sophomore Brian Luk (Hong Kong/Northfield Mount Hermon), rookie Edan Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset High School), and sophomore Theresa Gaffney (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) led the way against Wesleyan.
The men's squad had their closest match of the season, falling 102-135 while the women lost 35-217 against the Cardinals with only three swimmers able to compete.
On the men's side, Luk produced the biggest day for the Judges. Luk won all three freestyle sprints to record his best performance of this young season. In the 200-yard freestyle, Luk took the race by a sizeable margin, winning by more than three seconds with a time of 1:46.80. In the 50 free, he finished in 22.15 seconds, over a second better than the runner-up. Finally, in the 100 free, Luk again essentially cruised to victory completing the sprint in 48.07 seconds, over three and a half seconds better than second place.
Zitelny joined Luk with three victories on the afternoon. Zitelny swept his backstroke races winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard events. He took the 100 back in 55.93 and won the 200 back with a time of 2:03.11, edging the runner-up by 0.17 seconds. Zitelny rounded out his victories for the day by barely beating junior Max Fabian (Keene, N.H./Oak Meadow) in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing with a time of 2:06.64, only 0.21 seconds ahead of Fabian.
Fabian had another strong day in the distance races taking home two victories and a second place finish. He won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:06.84 and completed the sweep by taking the 500 free as well with a time of 4:57.59.
On the women's side, Gaffney led the way with a win and a second place finish. In the 1,000-yard freestyle Gaffney completed the race in 12:05.60 more than 15 seconds in front of the next swimmer. Gaffney did not fare quite as well in the 500 free but was the runner-up with a time of 5:59.84. Sophomore Fallon Bushee (Malden, Mass./Mystic Valley Regional Charter School) also had a second place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.96 seconds, exactly one-tenth of a second behind the winner from Wesleyan.