ROCHESTER, N.Y. – One Brandeis University school record fell today and several other top times were achieved on the first day of action at the 2016 University Athletic Association championships at the University of Rochester today.
Leading the way for the Judges was the women's 200-yard freestyle relay. The Judges set a school record in both their preliminary and finals run. The team of sophomore Amy Sheinhait(Framingham, Mass./Framingham), sophomore Ariana Traub (Tiburon, Calif./Redwood), rookie Kylie Herman (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay) and Sherry Tu (Guandong, China/Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women) bettered the school record in the morning session by a shade under half a second with a mark of 1:41.11, erasing the mark of 1:41.60 set in 2009. In the finals, the Judges finished in eighth place by lowering the mark again to 1:40.55, 1.05 lower than the previous mark. Sheinhait's anchor leg in the morning posted a time of 24.16 seconds, the fastest 50-yard split in school history.
The top individual placement of the meet so far came from sophomore diver Sam Zucker (Omaha, Neb./Anderson), who recorded the fifth-best three-meter championship score in program history at 314.55, good for 11th place overall.
The Brandeis women also had two swimmers just miss out on the evening session in the 500-yard freestyle. Kylie Herman finished in 25th place, 0.57 seconds out of a spot in the finals with a mark of 5:15.32, the third-fastest time in school history. Junior Joanna Murphy (Sarasota, Fla./Riverview) was 26th overall and 0.98 seconds shy of the C final with a time of 5:16.71.
In the men's 500 free, sophomore Zach Diamond (Staten Island. N.Y./Staten Island Academy) finished in 35th place with a time of 4:49.16, the fifth-fastest in program history.
In the 200-yard individual medley, junior captain Edan Zitelny (Sysosset, N.Y./Syosset) placed 30th overall with a mark of 1:57.95. Zitelny was 1.25 seconds out of advancing to the evening session but turned in the second-fastest time in school history. Zitelny shaved three seconds off his career-best in the event. Senior David Lazarovich (Stowe, Vt./South Burlington) also turned in a top Brandeis time in the 200 IM, going 2:00.79, eighth on the list and 40th overall in the UAA.
Rookie Sabrina Greer (Greensboro, N.C. / Greensboro Day School) turned in the Judges' final top-10 program time in the 200 IM for the women. She posted the seventh-fastest mark in Brandeis history with a time of 2:19.69.
In the 50-yard freestyle, the team's top times on the day were turned in by junior Cameron Braz (Monson, Mass. / Monson), who was 33rd with a time of 22.09 seconds for the men, and Sheinhait, who was 46th with a time of 25.42 seconds for the women.
The Judges wound up the day with two eighth-place relays. The women's 400 medley relay of Tu, Greer, Herman and sophomore Abby Damsky (New York, N.Y. / The Brearley School) turned in a time of 4:14.44 for the women. The men's quartet of Zitelny, Lazarovich, junior Eb Weber (Murray, Ky./Murray) and Braz swam 3:33.90 in the same event.
At the end of Day 1 of competition, the men were in eighth place with 148 points, while the women were eighth also with 132.