The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs continued to impress at the 2011 CUNYAC Swimming & Diving Championships on Friday at Lehman College, as both teams have been faring well.  The Dolphins men sit in second place behind Baruch with Lehman trailing a close third, while the Dolphins women are scrambling for third place, sitting in fourth just a handful of points behind Lehman College.
On the men’s side, the Dolphins were looking to continue to search for gold, having swept five-of-five swim events on Thursday.  The Dolphins were almost perfect again, going six-for-seven events.  Starting it off was a great effort by the fearsome foursome in the 200-yard Medley Relay.  The team of Vladislav Romanov, Pavel Buyanov, Nikolay Shevchenko and Danila Novikov finished in 1:35.71, almost a full 10 seconds in front of 2nd place Baruch, and shattering the old CUNYAC record by a full four seconds.  The team of Louis Algarin, Joe Lee, Zhihao Zhang and Andy Gil also fared well, posting fourth place with a time of 1:59.82.
CSI medalled twice in the next event, the 400-yard Individual Medley.  Andrey Tarasov came in top in the field, also setting a CUNYAC record with a time of 4:18.13, blasting the old record by a full 12 seconds.  After Gabriel Yanez came in second for Baruch, Joe Lee picked up a bronze with a time of 4:42.98.  The Dolphins took another pair of medals in the 100-yard Butterfly.  Shevchenko took gold with a 52.10 mark, as his teammate Buyanov gave him a run for the money with a time of 53.60, taking second.  CSI also picked up points here with Zhang (9th) and Mitchell Lovell (10th).
Shevchenko doubled his efforts in the next heat, the 200-yard Freestyle, coming in first with a time of 1:45.83.  Paul O’Hara followed in 8th place while Harith Wickramarante finished 12th.  Buyanov won by a clear six seconds in the 100-yard Breaststroke, and in the next event, Romanov broke another CUNYAC record by posting a 52.78 time in the 100-yard Backstroke, breaking his own record by two-one-hundredth’s of a second.  
The CSI string of gold medals ended in the final event, as two Baruch teams were better in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay, where CSI could only take bronze.  O’Hara, Lee, Algarin and Tarasov did the honors here posting a time of 8:32.25.  The Dolphins also took a silver in diving, where Andy Gill topped his own personal best on the 3-meter platform, finishing with 246.05 points.  
On the women’s side, CSI stayed within their form, battling for third place behind frontrunners Baruch and Hunter.  In an ultra-competitive diving round on the one-meter platform, April Bartlett shined with a score of 310.43, just under three points behind Lehman’s Mailys Besnard, earning her a silver medal performance.
In swim events, CSI also did well.  The team of Jessica Pifalo, Elaina Lee, Gabriella Villarruel, and Bartlett just missed a medal by placing fourth in the 200 Free Relay, coming in just a second behind third place Hunter with a time of 2:11.64.  Pifalo did earn a medal for CSI in the 400 IM, coming in at 5:38.28, besting her own regular season mark by 30 seconds.  Lauren Overeem also scored points, finishing 8th.  Villarruel was next to take bronze, posting a 1:09.89 mark, her best of the season, in the 100 Fly competition.
Lei finished 6th in the 100 Breast, while Bartlett took 12th there, and one event later, Pifalo took fifth in the 100 Back.  
All told after two days, the CSI men sit with 610 points, 117.5 points behind Baruch and 65 in front of third place Lehman.  Brooklyn is in fourth place with 212.5 points, while York is in fifth with 146.  On the women’s ledger, Baruch has an overwhelming 666 points while Hunter has 539 followed Lehman’s 337.  CSI trails in fourth place with 322 points.  Brooklyn (224), John Jay (219), and York (146) round out the field.
The CUNYAC Championship will conclude today at Lehman College at 9am.