WALTHAM, Mass. – In just the second meet of the season, both Brandeis Swimming & Diving Teams recorded top five finishes at the Hartwick Relays. After finishing slightly behind Roger Williams in their first meet, the Brandeis men would pull ahead and finish atop the podium, while the Brandeis women finished fourth at the meet, including numerous top-three finishes and victories in the mixed 200-yard medley relay, and 800-yard medley relay.
In dominant fashion, the Brandeis men ran away with the overall title by winning seven out of the eleven eligible races. It was an unusual meet in terms of the races, which were exclusively relays. The meet included 3x100 races in each discipline, a mixed-gender 200 medley relay and an 850-yard freestyle. Brandeis was led by the performance of senior Tamir Zitelny (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) who posted multiple fastest times across all events. The men's backstroke relay team won their 3 X 100-yard relay event handily due to the efforts of sophomore Benton Ferebee (Germantown, Tenn./ Memphis University School) and first-year James Barno (Ballston Spa, N.Y./ Ballston Spa) and Zitelny, by an astounding 12 seconds with a time of 2:47.69. Similarly, the Men's 3 X 100-yard butterfly team of seniors Justin Weissberg (Long Beach, N.Y./ Long Beach), Matthew Arcemont (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei), and first-year Barno would win their event in dominant fashion with a time of 2:44.69, a margin of five seconds. Additionally, the Brandeis men would win the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, the 3 X 200-yard Medley Relay, the 200-yard Medley Relay, and the 800-yard Medley Relay.
The women would post numerous podium finishes in addition to their first-place 800-yard medley relay winning team of juniors Audrey Kim (Livingston, N.J./ Livingston) and Emily McGovern (Chatham, N.J./ Chatham), and first-Years Bailey Gold (Berkeley Heights, N.J./ Governor Livingston) and Christina McPhillips (Narrangsett, R.I./ Narrangsett), who edged second-place St. Rose by 0.10 seconds with a time of 9:21.35. The Judges posted runner-up finishes in the 3 X 100 Yard backstroke relay, the 3 X 100 Yard butterfly relay and the 200 Yard freestyle relay, while coming in third in the the 3 X 100 Yard breaststroke relay, the 200 Yard medley relay, and the 400 Yard freestyle relay.
The Brandeis women would combine with the men to win the Mixed 200 Yard Medley Relay as well with Zitelny, McGovern, and Gold joined by junior Daniel Wohl (Chapel Hill, N.C./ East Chapel Hill), posting a time of 1:48.01 to win by more than three seconds.
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday, October 26 at home in the Linsey Pool against Vassar University.
--by Cahler Fruchtman '21