CHICAGO, Ill. – Five Brandeis University swimming and diving school records fell on the first full day of action at the 2020 University Athletic Association championships, being held this year at the University of Chicago.
The two records that fell were both instances of Judges lowering their own marks. On the women's side, rookie Ema Rennie (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) shaved more than three-tenths of a second off her previous school best in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.18 seconds. She finished in 11th place in the preliminaries, earning a spot in tonight's 'B' final. Rennie was just 0.09 out of the top eight and a berth in the 'A' final.
For the men, junior Daniel Wohl (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill East) took more than 12 seconds off his season best and close to three-quarters of a second off his previous lifetime best in the 500-yard free style. Wohl posted a time of 4:36.08, good for 12th place and a berth in tonight's 'B' final. Wohl was about three seconds off the pace to reach the 'A' final.
Those two performances were the only Brandeis swimmers to make it to individual races this evening. The next-closest performance came from sophomore Brendon Lu (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge), who came in 29th in the 200-yard individual medley for the men with a time of 1:57.37. Lu was just 0.06 shy of his personal best and missed out on the 'C' final by 1.23 seconds. The next best finish by women's team came from sophomore Natalie Westrick (Lincoln, R.I. / Lincoln), who was 31st in the 500 free with a time of 5:26.70.
The Judges also had the #11 men's 200-yard free relay and #12 women's 200 free relay. Those squads will earn points for the team in tonight's finals.
During the evening session, the Judges set their third mark of the meet in the 200-yard freestyle relay, as Wohl teamed with senior Matthew Arcemont (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei), junior Marcelo Ohno-Machado (San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines) and senior Tamir Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) to post a time of 1:23.83, good for seventh place.
The women turned in an eighth-place finish in the 200 free relay, with the team of seniors Natalya Wozab (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) and Adrienne Aponte (Pompano Beach, Fla. / Fort Lauderdale), junior Uajda Musaku (Winthrop, Mass./Winthrop) and Rennie posting a time of 1:40.94.
In their individual finals, Wohl swam 4:37.20 in the 500 free to finish in 16th place. Rennie was unfortunately DQed in the 50 free.
The evening wrapped up with two more records in the 400-yard medley relays, with the men taking seventh with a time of 3:26.37 from Zitelny, Lu, Arcemont and Ohno-Machado. The women were eighth in 4:00.46 as the team of junior Audrey Kim (Livingston, N.J./Livingston), junior Emily McGovern (Chatham, N.J./Chatham), rookie Bailey Gold (Berkeley Heights, N.J./Governor Livingston) and Rennie nearly became the first quartet to break four minutes, shaving a full minute off last year's school record.
In the team standings, the men had 125 points after Day 1 of action, putting them in eighth place, 25 behind Rochester. The women were also eighth with 132 points, 73 points behind UR.