WORCESTER, Mass. -- The Brandeis University women's swimming and diving team, competing against three other teams at WPI today, earned the program's first win since 2009 today, defeating Babson, 157-102. The program was on hiatus for two seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11 because of facilities issues. 

"It was a great team effort," said head coach Mike Kotch on the women's first win in his three-year tenure. "We were a bit shorthanded, but everyone chipped in to help pick up the slack."

The Judges also dropped head-to-head match-ups with host WPI, 173-78, and Smith College, 200-93.

The Judges got a host of fine performances from rookies to help earn the win. They had two second-place finishes in the afternoon's longest and shortest races. Yi Sul Richter (Colorado Springs, Colo./Vista Ridge) was runner-up in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:37.04, nearly 30 seconds better than her previous fastest time of the season. Richter also took fourth in the 500 free (5:42.49). Sherry Tu (Guangdong, China / Our Lady of Mercy School for Young Women) was second in the 50 free with a time of 26.95 seconds. Tu also placed fifth in the 100 backstroke (1:07.30). 

Erin Gawronski (Norwich, N.Y./Norwich) contributed greatly in three events. She had the top scoring performance in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:21.49 - second to touch behind a swimmer from WPI, though the Engineers had stopped scoring their swimmers by that stage in the meet. She also earned valuable points in the breaststroke, an event not usually on her plate, placing fifth in the 200 and seventh in the 100.

Earning a third-place finish was Amy Sheinhait (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) in the 200 free in 2:09.20, less than a second shy of another runner-up. 

Brandeis returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Wesleyan University.