The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams swept last weekend’s Bruno Invitational meet with successes seen across the board for both teams.
“The work that we have put in this fall led to a terrific midseason performance by our team,” men’s Head Coach Kevin Norman wrote in a message to The Herald. “I’ve been extremely proud of how committed this group has been to training at a very high level with a lot of consistency.”
The men’s team started off strong on Friday with a 400 medley relay win from Marton Nagy ’28, Jack Kelly ’25, Christopher Zhang ’28 and Marcus Lee ’25. Their time of 3:10.18 set a new record for the Bears.
Kelly was a standout performer over the weekend, contributing to two more program records the following day — first in the 100 breaststroke, and then in the 200 medley relay alongside Finn Quested ’27, Tucker Peterson ’26 and Lee. The men’s divers also saw success on Saturday, with Rowland Lawver ’26, Marcel Mateos Salles ’26 and Matteo Vasiliadis ’27 securing all three top spots in the three-meter event.
“Kelly’s swims in the 100 and 200 breaststroke stood out and should rank him very high nationally once midseason meets around the country shake up,” Norman noted.
Sunday closed out the win for the men’s team with a particularly strong performance from Nagy, who, according to Norman, had a “huge weekend.”
“In one weekend, he landed himself second all-time at Brown in the 400 IM and 200 Backstroke, 3rd in the 200 IM and 200 Freestyle and 5th in the 100 Freestyle,” Norman wrote. “That’s very impressive.”
The women’s team exhibited an equally impressive performance over their four days at the invitational, setting several new records of their own.
On the diving front, Isabella George ’27 was a standout athlete, blowing away the competition and securing victories in both the one-meter and three-meter competitions.
George said her secret to success lies in her control and mental focus during each dive.
“Your mind can completely impact the way a dive turns out,” George wrote to The Herald. “I used to get so nervous before competitions that I’d throw up. Now, I remind myself that it’s just another practice and visualize my dives, which calms my nerves.”
Other top-placing divers included Elena Yeh ’26 and Bowie Krawczyk ’26 in Saturday’s one-meter event and Krawczyk and Serena Cui ’28 in the 3-meter event on Sunday.
Women’s swimmers also saw all-around success over the weekend. Lily Klinginsmith ’26 helped Bruno take the top spot in the 100 butterfly and the 200 medley relay on Saturday alongside Jenna Reznicek ’25, Ellie Brault ’25 and Audrey Chung ’28.
The swimmers continued to dominate on Sunday, coming out on top in five more events. Livia Venditti ’28 had a particularly strong performance, setting a new program record with her time of 1:56.41 in the 200 backstroke. The team closed the competition with a first-place victory secured.
George wrote that the team dynamic of “unwavering support and encouragement” was no different from what she usually observes at meets.
“Whether it’s a 50-yard sprint, a mile-long race, or a two-and-a-half-hour dive event, there is always one of our girls cheering on the sidelines,” she said. “That constant energy and camaraderie defines BWSD.”
“We had a lot of happy and motivated athletes walking off the pool deck and I’m confident that will carry over into a very intense stretch of training through December and January,” Norman wrote to The Herald. “I think the team sees how much potential there is on this roster and what we're capable of, but also understands how incredibly deep and talented the Ivy League is and we need to be ready.”
“Now that the Bruno Invite is over and we’ve wrapped up the fall portion of our season, we have a long stretch of training until our next meet,” George wrote. “That said, I know BWSD will keep its momentum going thanks to teammates who push each other to be the best versions of themselves at practice everyday.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be training in an off-season until mid-January, when they will both compete against Columbia.
