Stephanie Collyer scored tops for CSI is the diving events to help lead the Dolphins to victory over Hunter.
For the first time since the 2000-01 women’s swimming and diving season, the College of Staten Island defeated Hunter College in it’s head-to-head meet, only this time the Dolphins did it in dramatic fashion, trailing up until the final event to score a 119-116 victory at the Sports & Recreation Center in what was the opening meet of the season for both teams.
The thrilling win came in bizarre fashion. In the initial event of the night, the 200-yard Medley Relay, CSI scored a first place finish while Hunter notched both second and third places, putting the Dolphins ahead 11-6 after one event. Hunter’s second-place team came in just two seconds behind CSI, however, due to a facility issue and the placement of marker flags, the visitors protested the event, and it was agreed by all parties that the event be stricken and raced at the end of the meet, resetting the score to 0-0 heading into the second event.
From there, Hunter won nearly all of the individual events, taking three straight individual events. Hunter Dawkins took a second place finish in the 1000-yard Freestyle for CSI, while Adrianne Vivas and Vasiliki Stergioula came on two-three in 200- yard Freestyle. The same was true in the 50-yard Freestyle where CSI’s Karen Ragnanan came in second followed by Kelly Walsh’s third place finish.
CSI scored its initial first-place finish via the 200-yard Individual Medley, as Jessica Pifalo raced in at 2:34.77. Going into the sixth event, Hunter led 43-33, and CSI was able to retake the lead by sweeping the 1-meter Diving event as Stephanie Collyer led all scorers, followed by Valeria Phralofa and Tina Chen. Hunter grabbed the lead back thanks to four straight first-place finishes, before the Dolphins swept Diving again in the three-meter platform, narrowing the deficit to 94-90 going into the final two events.
In the 100-yard Breaststroke, a great run by Dakota Dawkins at 1:17.47 beat the rest of the field by a good 10 seconds, as CSI was able to take a 102-101 lead. But Hunter struck gold in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, coming in at 1:58.27, while CSI took second and third. At the end of the official meet, Hunter had a 112-108 lead.
There was, however, still one more event to go, the re-do of the 200-yard Medley Relay that the meet began with. Needing a first-place finish to win the meet, CSI delivered. The team of Dakota Dawkins, Ragnanan, Pifalo, and Vivas swam the lengths in 2:11:46, winning the event. Hunter’s second place team, which came in at 2:11.84 the first time around, this time was disqualified, and Hunter’s third place team came in behind the mark at 2:25:07. With CSI outscoring Hunter 11-4 in the final event, the Dolphins won the match, 119-116. Even if Hunter had not disqualified, CSI would have won the meet by a single digit had they come in first, but the Hunter DQ made that a moot point.
CSI is now 1-0 to start the season. Their next meet will be on November 2, when they travel to face John Jay College at 6pm.
