Two College of Staten Island athletes have been awarded with CUNYAC’s weekly awards. Freshman Danielle Kartalis of women’s basketball was named Rookie of the Week while men’s swim senior Vlad Romanov was honored with Swimmer of the Week.

Kartalis earned her first weekly award with her performance in her first college start as the Dolphins played Mount St. Vincent on Tuesday. Despite the loss, 75-70, the rookie scored 10 points shooting 3-for-7 from the field and 4-for-6 from the foul line. She also pulled down five rebounds and added a steal.

She has appeared in all eight of CSI’s games averaging 25 minutes per game with 4.8 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Romanov had an excellent week in the pool breaking records in the ECAC DIII Open and helping his team to a conference victory over Brooklyn College. On Saturday, December 3rd, Romanov and three of his teammates captured a 6th place overall finish in the ECAC Open. The senior captured a 1st place win in the 100 Yard Backstroke and the 200 Yard Backstroke. His time of 49.83 in the 100 Backstroke qualified him for the NCAA’s in March. Romanov finished the 200 IM with a 1:53.85 time, a personal best and good enough for 3rd place. With teammates Timur Rakhimov, Yury Zimarev and Danila Novikov, Romanov captured two first place relays wins and one silver win. The teams golden win with a time of 3:23.73, in the 400 Yard Medley Relay qualified them for an NCAA spot and broke an ECAC record. Vlad’s backstroke heat in the relay was also a new ECAC record as he completed it with a 49.58 time.

Against Brooklyn College, he captured three golden wins including the 1000 freestyle and 100 Backstroke.

Catch women’s basketball in their final game before the holidays on Thursday, December 22 at Old Westbury at 7:00 pm. The game will be broadcast live via CSI SportsNet, follow www.csidolphins.com for link. Swimming will resume their meets in the New Year as they will take on York College on January 5 at 6:00 pm.