BRONX, NY | The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s swimming and diving units took home five major awards at the 2018 CUNYAC Championships, as the men’s unit finalized in second place and the women’s unit landed in third to wrap up play this afternoon at Lehman College.  Senior Ewa Wojciechowska was awarded the Performer of the Year honor, as was Nicholas Defonte in the men’s division.  Defonte, along with teammate Jonathan Gorinshteyn, was awarded Co-Swimmer of the Meet as well.  Senior Brandon Lei was named the Sportsmanship Player of the Year.  It wrapped up a great three-day run at the Finals.

A total of 12 events were on hand today, five individual events and one relay, and CSI claimed a total of six medals, including three first-place finishes.  It started with the 1,650-yard Freestyle, and on the men;s side, Gorinshteyn prevailed in a field of 12, coming in at 18:12.29, winning by almost a full minute.  In the same event Leo Litovsky took a bronze medallion with a time of 19:57.22.

It was then Defonte’s turn, and he added a second gold medal in the 200-yard Backstroke, breaking away from the pack and scoring a first-place run of 2:00.46, winning by 13 seconds and shaving his season-best by two seconds.  

Up next was the 100-yard Freestyle, and Wojciechowska closed out her perfect run with a time of 55.18, gaining another gold, her third.  CSI’s Victoria Crea came in fourth in the event with a time of 57.75.

CSI’s fourth gold came one event later, in the men’s 200-yard Breaststroke event.  There, Gorinshteyn finished a great afternoon with a swim of 2:19.27, winning the event by two seconds while shaving his personal best by over six seconds, a great feat having done the mile earlier in the morning.

 In the final event of the afternoon, it was the CSI women that gained a bronze medal in the 400-yard Freestyle Relay, as the team of Cecelia Mauro, Alicia Defonte, Victoria Crea, and Ewa Wojciechowska turned in a time of 4:05.69.

With the final tallies in, the CSI men finished with 191 points, good for the silver medal.  Baruch won the meet comfortably with 288 points.  In third place was Brooklyn at 158, followed by Lehman with 148 and York with 15.  

On the women’s tally Baruch also took first with 284 points, followed by Hunter (240), CSI (126), Lehman (105), Brooklyn (41), John Jay (40), and York (4).

Defonte and Wojciechowska, who were both awarded the CUNYAC Preseason Performer of the Year awards, doubled the honor by being named the same award at the conclusion of the meet, as determined by CUNYAC Coaches.  Defonte and Gorinshteyn had perfect individual runs during the meet en route the MVP honors as well.

The Dolphins will now assess their times and enter into the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Championships in two weeks time.