BRISTOL, R.I. – The Brandeis University swimming and diving teams opened the 2019-20 season today at Roger Williams University. The Judges picked up 12 event wins in 32 races. The men were edged by the Hawks by just three points, 141.5-138.5, while the women fell 175-105.
Leading the way for the men was senior Tamir Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset), who won three events. He took the 50 backstroke with a time of 24.52 seconds, winning by more than a second. Zitelny had a 0.41 second margin in the 50 freestyle, posting a time of 22.49 seconds, and wrapped it up with a 1.56 second margin of victory in the 100 back with a time of 53.80 seconds. Zitelny also anchored the winning 200 free relay, joined by junior Daniel Wohl (Chapel Hill, N.C. / East Chapel Hill), senior Matthew Arcemont (Santa Ana, Calif. / Mater Dei) and junior Marcelo Ohno-Machado (San Diego, Calif. / Torrey Pines) to record a time of 1:28.95, winning by 0.6 seconds.
Wohl added a win for the men in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:47.55 for a three-second margin of victory, and in the 500 with a mark of 5:03.32. In the latter, he edged junior Richard Selznick (Las Vegas, Nev./Palos Verdes) by 0.19 seconds. Selznick would pick up a win in the 1,000 free with a time of 10:24.17, with sophomore Brendon Lu (Basking Ridge, N.J. / Ridge) coming in second in his first competitive race at 1,000-yards and posting a personal-best of 10:25.90. In the 100-yard individual medley, the Judges had a tie for first, with Arcemont and rookie Joshua Liu (New Hyde Park, N.Y./Great Neck South) both touching in 57.68 seconds, about three-quarters of a second ahead of the third-place finisher from RWU.
On the women's side, rookie Bailey Gold (Berkeley Heights, N.J. / Governor Livingston) led the way with a pair of wins, taking the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.99, nearly a four-second margin of victory over the RWU runner-up. She also edged classmate Christina McPhillips (Narrgansett, R.I. / Narrgansett) in the 50 butterfly with a time of 27.70 seconds, winning by 0.16 seconds. McPhillips turned the tables in the 100 fly with a 0.49-second win, posting a time of 1:01.03.
Sophomore Abbie Etzweiler (Malvern, Pa. / Great Valley) was the top distance free swimmer for the Judges on the day. In the 500, she caught the leader in the final 25 to win in 5:43.79 by a margin of just 12-tenths of a second. She also placed second in the 1000 free in 11:55.85.
The Judges return to action next weekend at the Hartwick Relays in New York.