ATLANTA, Ga. – The Brandeis University men's swimming and diving team finished in eighth place at the 2014 University Athletic Association championships, scoring 331 points. The Judges set three school records in the process. Due to weather concerns, the meet was held in two parts, with Brandeis joining co-host Emory, Carnegie Mellon, NYU and Washington University in Atlanta, while the Universities of Chicago and Rochester met up at Case Western Reserve to compete in the other half of the meet.
Leading the way for the Judges was senior Max Fabian (Keene, N.H./Oak Meadow), who set school records in all three distance freestyle events. He made new marks in the 500 and 1,650 races, establishing a new record with his split in 1,000 along the way (click here for a complete rundown on his records). Fabian's mark in the mile free was also his second career NCAA Championship 'B' cut in the event. He will await word of his possible selection to the national championships. In the final standings, Fabian's best event was the 1,650, where he finished in ninth place, earning 20 points. Fabian placed 18th in the 500 free and in the 400 IM (4:10.26), earning seven points each for the Judges in those two races.
Rookie Edan Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) contributed nine points in the 200-yard backstroke, where he finished 17th overall with a time of 1:56.76 after a PR in the event in the prelims at 1:56.44. He was also edged out of a scoring spot in the 100 back, swimming 54.87 seconds, 0.47 out of the top 24.
Sophomore Brian Luk (Hong Kong/Northfield Mount Hermon) added two individual points for the Judges in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.53 seconds, coming in 23rd overall. He was edged out of a spot in the 'B' final race by just three-hundredths of a second, which could have guaranteed him a finish of 16th. Though Luk finished 14th on site in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.81 seconds, it was not enough to crack the top 24 of the scorers in the event. He was also edged out of scoring in the 100 butterfly, where his time of 52.80 seconds in the prelims was two-tenths of a second out of the top 24 despite being 16th in Atlanta.
The Judges had one other performance just miss making the scoring rounds, as rookie Eb Weber (Murray, Ky. / Murray) was 25th in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:03.25, just over half a second out of the top 24.