WORCESTER, Mass. – The Brandeis University swimming and diving team opened the three-day Gompei Invitational at WPI today with several impressive performances, highlighted by a win from sophomore Richard Selznick (Las Vegas, Nev./Palos Verdes). The Judges were in eighth place with 651 points, fifth among Division III teams at the event. Both the men's and women's scoring is combined at this meet.

MEET HIGHLIGHTS  - WOMEN

• The Judges had one woman reach an A Final tonight, as rookie Olivia Stebbins (Willington, Conn. / Edwin O. Smith) placed 10^th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:32.69 in the finals. Stebbins swam 2:30.59 in the prelims, which was good enough for fifth on the career list.
• Sophomore Emily McGovern (Chatham, N.J. / Chatham) also scored in the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 2:35.76, good for 20^th, after swimming 2:33.81 in the prelims.
• The Judges had two scorers in the B final of the 200 individual medley. Rookie Claire Xu (East Hanover, N.J. / Newark Academy) continued her excellent season by winning the B final with a time of 2:12.07 to place 11^th with the third-fastest time in school history.
• Junior Natalya Wozab (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) reached the B final and swam 2:19.81 to place 20^th, after swimming 2:16.38 in the prelims.
• Rookie Lauren Howard (Abington, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) came in 19^th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.13 seconds, ranking her third on the all-time top 10 list.
• Sophomore Audrey Kim (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) was 18^th in the 100 fly with a time of 1:00.29, while her 1:00.12 in the prelims was third on the school list.
• Rookie Abbie Etzweiler (Malvern, Pa. / Great Valley) was the top scorer for the women in the 1,650 free with a time of 18:49.33 that was good for 19^th place and a spot in fourth place on the career list.

MEET HIGHLIGHTS – MEN

• Selznick led the way for the men's team with his victory in the 1,650 freestyle. His time of 16:21.74 won the race by six seconds over his nearest competitor from WPI. Selznick was two seconds off his personal best in the event and five seconds short of an NCAA 'B' cut. This was his first mile of the season.
• Selznick also turned in a top-10 performance in the 200 individual medley, placing 10^th with a time of 1:59.99 in the finals. His time of 1:57.78 in the prelims was the second-fastest in program history, three seconds off the school record.
• Three other swimmers reached the A finals to record top-10 finishes tonight.
• Junior Tamir Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) placed fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 50.25 seconds, just under a quarter of a second off of his own school record.
• Rookie Brendon Lu (Basking Ridge, NJ / Ridge) came in sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:09.97, placing him fourth on Brandeis's all-time top 10.
• Sophomore Daniel Wohl (Chapel Hill, N.C. / East Chapel Hill) took seventh place in the 50 free with a mark of 21.53 seconds, moving him up a spot into third place on the Judges' career list.
• Rookie Alex Wang (Surrey, B.C. / Southpointe Academy) scored in two events, placing 16^th in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:13.65 – good for eighth on the top 10 list - and 24^th in the 200 IM in 2:03.01.

MEET HIGHLIGHTS – RELAYS

• The men turned in the team's top relay performance in the 800 free, as the team of Wohl, Lu, sophomore Chase Chen (Villanova, Penn. / The Hill School) and Zitelny came in fifth with a time of 7:06.40.
• The women were 11^th in the meet-opening 200 medley relay with the all-first-year team of Xu, Stebbins, Gazelle Umbay (North Hills, Calif. / Sierra Canyon School) and Howard swimming 1:50.79.  
• The men's 200 medley squad of Zitelny, Lu, junior Matthew Arcemont (Santa Ana, Calif. / Mater Dei) and Wohl were 12^th in 1:36.81.

UP NEXT

• The Judges compete on Day 2 of the Gompei Invitational starting tomorrow at 9 a.m.