Zitelny sets NEISDA meet record in 100 backstroke

Tamir Zitleny '20 (photo by Sportspix.com)
Tamir Zitleny '20 (photo by Sportspix.com)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – On the third day of action at the 2019 New England Intercollegiate Swimming and Diving Championships, Brandeis University swimmers set four school records, one meet record and posted four wins.

The Judges opened the meet with a win and school record in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of rookies Claire Xu (East Hanover, NJ / Newark Academy), Olivia Stebbins (Willington, Conn. / Edwin O. Smith), sophomore Audrey Kim (Livingston, N.J. / Livingston) and rookie Lauren Howard (Abington, Mass. / Cardinal Spellman) swam 1:48.31, besting Keene State by more than a second and taking more than a second off the record that had been established just last week at the UAA Championships.

Xu wasn't done, however, as her opening backstroke split of 26.61 seconds lowered her own school record by about a quarter of a second. She added another mark in the 100 backstroke later in the meet, taking the race with a time of 58.03 seconds, besting teammate Kim, who swam 59.76.

The Brandeis men got on the record board in their first race of the day, placing third in the 200 medley relay with a mark of 1:34.67, taking about a third of a second off the mark previously set at UAAs. The record-setting team was comprised of junior Tamir Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset), rookie Brendon Lu (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and juniors Matthew Arcemont (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei) and Tom Alger (Plymouth, Mass./Cardinal Spelman).

Zitelny also picked up his second win of the meet in the in the 100-yard backstroke, setting a NEISDA record with a time of 50.07 seconds, well ahead of the second-place finisher from Roger Williams, who came in in 51.61 seconds.

Brandeis's final winner on the day was sophomore Richard Selznick (Las Vegas, Nev./Palos Verdes), who captured the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:09.08, winning by almost seven full seconds.

Other top finishes included a third-place showing in the 50 fly by Arcemont with a time of 23.53 seconds; senior Kylie Herman (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay), who took fifth for the women in the 200 free with a time of 1:57.62; sophomore Marcelo Ohno-Machado (San Diego, Calif. / Torrey Pines) taking fourth place in the 200 free for the men; Stebbins and Lu, who took fourth in the women's and men's 100 breaststroke races, respectively, with times of 1:09.24 and 59.92.

Overall in the standings, the Brandeis men sat in second place with 386 points through three days of action, while the women were in third with 754. Roger Williams led the men's meet with 646 points, while Simmons led the women with 972.5.