The College of Staten Island men’s swimming team got back in the win column last week, and have been rewarded with a trio of awards bestowed to them by the CUNYAC and Collegeswimming.com. Derek Villa took home his first Performer of the Week honor, while Nicholas Defonte bagged another Rookie of the Week citation from the CUNYAC. Meanwhile, Collegeswimming.com named Tim Sweeney the Player of the Week coming out of the CUNY.
The trio of swimmers linked up to race in the 200-yard Medley Relay to start the meet with Baruch College, in what was a 144-87 win for the Dolphins. The group came in at 1:43.34, three seconds faster than the Bearcats to take first place. Villa would add two more wins in individual distance races. In the 1,000-yard Freestyle, Villa was a good 30 seconds faster than the lot, going away with a win at 10:56.86. In the 500-yard installment of the Freestyle, Villa came in 10 seconds ahead of second place, winning with a time of 5:15.01.
Defonte scored first-place finishes in the shorter Freestyle events. In the 50-yard Freestyle, he won the closest race of the evening, coming in at 23.42, just over a tenth of a second faster than Andrew Lubrino of Baruch. Later, in the 100-yard Freestyle, he scored a 50.79 finish good for a two-second win.
Three-time Collegeswimming.com Player of the Week, Tim Sweeney continues to have a great run in 2015. The junior first came in as a first-place finisher in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 1:58.22 and then he remained unblemished for the season thanks to a 53.11 run in the 100-yard Backstroke, winning by two seconds.
CSI is now idle until December 18, when they travel to face Lehman College in CUNYAC action, at 6pm. The Dolphins are 2-3 this season, and own a 2-0 CUNYAC mark.
