PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Brandeis University swimming and diving team earned a pair of individual wins today in their season-opening "Pentathlon" meet at Roger Williams University in the first meet for head coach Nicole Carter.
The unique event sees each swimmer on each team swim 100 yards each of all four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, as well as a 100-yard individual medley. The swimmer with the fastest cumulative time is crowned the winner.
On the men's side, junior Tamir Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) earned the victory after finishing second in his first two seasons. Zitelny posted a time of 4:44.71 to best Hunter Olson of RWU by almost six full seconds. He posted the fastest time in four of the five events: the 100 fly (52.20 seconds); the 100 back (55.88 seconds); the 100 free (49.25 seconds) and the 100 IM (57.31 seconds). Sophomore Daniel Wohl (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) had an outstanding performance in the single-stroke events, winning the 100 breaststroke (1:02.35) and finishing second in the 100 free (49.25 seconds) and the 100 fly (55.42 seconds), but was disqualified from the IM to fall out of the overall standings. Rookie Brendon Lu (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) was third overall, placing second in the 100 breast (1:02.64), third in the individual medley (57.65 seconds) and fourth in the 100 fly (55.67 seconds).
For the women, rookie Claire Xu (East Hanover, N.J. / Newark Academy) was the overall winner, with a cumulative time of 5:32.76. Xu won the 100 individual medley with a time of 1:06.15. She placed second in the 100 butterfly (1:04.13), four in the backstroke (1:05.13) and sixth in the breaststroke (1:16.10). Senior Kylie Herman (Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay) finished fourth overall in the standings, taking third in the butterfly (1:04.19), fourth in the freestyle (58.08 seconds) and fifth in the IM (1:08.07). Other top-five finishes in individual events came from sophomore Audrey Kim (Livingston, N.J./Livingston), who placed second in the backstroke (1:04.14); sophomore Emily McGovern (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) in the breaststroke (1:12.70); rookie Olivia Stebbins (Willington, Conn./Edwin O. Smith), fifth in the breaststroke (1:14.02); and rookie Gazelle Umbay (North Hills, Calif. / Sierra Canyon School), fifth in the butterfly (1:04.61).
The Judges open up their traditional dual-meet season in two weeks with a trip to Eastern New York to face Hartwick College on Oct. 19 and Vassar College on Oct. 20.