The College of Staten Island men’s swimming and diving unit got one step closer towards a CUNYAC Championship repeat, keeping pace on the competition in another outstanding day where another record was broken.  After two days of competition, CSI leads the field with 504 points, followed by Baruch with 415 points, and Lehman College with 339 markers.

The day started with a record-breaking performance on the diving boards.  A day after breaking his own record on the one-meter platform, John Pignatelli did it again on the three-meter, scoring 226.40 points to bring home the gold medal.  Freshman Ayman El-Haddad took silver with 198.55 points, while Nolan Reese earned bronze with 182.40 points, giving CSI the nice sweep.

Play then turned exclusively to swimming and CSI was up to the task.  In the 200-yard Medley Relay the team of Danila Novikov, Andrey Tarasov, Tim Sweeney and Derek Villa took the gold with a time of 1:37.83, coming in just over a second off the CUNYAC record.  Chris Pinto,  Roberto Hidalgo, Nolan Reese, and Sergio Miranda powered CSI’s fourth place team as well.

In individual results, CSI’s Hidalgo got his first medal with a bronze in the 400-yard Individual Medley with a time of 5:02.18, and one event later, Sweeney scored gold with a 50.93 time in the 100-yard Butterfly, just two-tenths shy of the record.   In one of the closest races in the entire meet, Derek Villa out-did Baruch’s Jacky Lau’s by 0.36 in the 200-yard Freestyle, winning the event with a flat race time of 1:48.00.

Not to be outdone, Tarasov took another CSI gold, this time in the 100-yard Breaststroke, racing in at 59.31, while Hidalgo came in 5th in the same race.  CSI then took gold and bronze in the 100-yard Backstroke, with Novikov scoring 54.49 and Pinto a time of 1:01.49.

Finally, in the closing event, CSI’s team of Nick Giasemis, Christopher Sorenson, Reese, and Pinto took bronze in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 8:52.75.

CSI is positioned nicely now to secure a championship up by a comfortable 80 points, but the team will need a good showing in the third and final day of competition tomorrow morning at 9am at Lehman.  CSI is trying to repeat as champs for the first time since 2005.

The College of Staten Island men’s swimming and diving unit got one step closer towards a CUNYAC Championship repeat, keeping pace on the competition in another outstanding day where another record was broken.  After two days of competition, CSI leads the field with 504 points, followed by Baruch with 415 points, and Lehman College with 339 markers.

The day started with a record-breaking performance on the diving boards.  A day after breaking his own record on the one-meter platform, John Pignatelli did it again on the three-meter, scoring 226.40 points to bring home the gold medal.  Freshman Ayman El-Haddad took silver with 198.55 points, while Nolan Reese earned bronze with 182.40 points, giving CSI the nice sweep.

Play then turned exclusively to swimming and CSI was up to the task.  In the 200-yard Medley Relay the team of Danila Novikov, Andrey Tarasov, Tim Sweeney and Derek Villa took the gold with a time of 1:37.83, coming in just over a second off the CUNYAC record.  Chris Pinto,  Roberto Hidalgo, Nolan Reese, and Sergio Miranda powered CSI’s fourth place team as well.

In individual results, CSI’s Hidalgo got his first medal with a bronze in the 400-yard Individual Medley with a time of 5:02.18, and one event later, Sweeney scored gold with a 50.93 time in the 100-yard Butterfly, just two-tenths shy of the record.   In one of the closest races in the entire meet, Derek Villa out-did Baruch’s Jacky Lau’s by 0.36 in the 200-yard Freestyle, winning the event with a flat race time of 1:48.00.

Not to be outdone, Tarasov took another CSI gold, this time in the 100-yard Breaststroke, racing in at 59.31, while Hidalgo came in 5th in the same race.  CSI then took gold and bronze in the 100-yard Backstroke, with Novikov scoring 54.49 and Pinto a time of 1:01.49.

Finally, in the closing event, CSI’s team of Nick Giasemis, Christopher Sorenson, Reese, and Pinto took bronze in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 8:52.75.

CSI is positioned nicely now to secure a championship up by a comfortable 80 points, but the team will need a good showing in the third and final day of competition tomorrow morning at 9am at Lehman.  CSI is trying to repeat as champs for the first time since 2005.