The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s swim teams enjoyed a busy opening week last week, and for their efforts collected a total of five weekly awards, bestowed to them by CollegeSwimming.com and the CUNYAC. CollegeSwimming.com named Tim Sweeney and Ewa Wojciechowska the Players of the Week coming out of the CUNY Athletic Conference. Meanwhile the CUNYAC itself named Sweeney its Player of the Week, Ayman El Haddad its Diver of the Week, and Nick Defonte its Rookie of the Week.
Sweeney enjoyed a splendid week in the pool, collecting four individual first-place performances. The CUNYAC’s Preseason Co-Performer of the Year started by snatching up first place laurels in the 200-yard Individual Medley and 100-yard Butterfly events against Queens College. Three days later, in CSI’s home opener against Brooklyn College, Sweeney shattered his own school record in the 200-yard Freestyle, posting a time of 1:46.02, beating his previous best by over a second. He added a win in the 100-yard Freestyle and another as part of the 200-yard Medley Relay.
Wojciechowska, the reigning CUNYAC Championship Meet MVP and Rookie of the Year picked up right where she left off a year ago. The sophomore posted a first-place swim in the 500-yard Freestyle, adding a pair of second-place finishes against NCAA Division II Queens, and then followed with three first-place efforts against Brooklyn, in the 200-yard Medley Relay, 50-yard Freestyle, and 100-yard Freestyle.
On the CUNYAC end, Ayman El-Haddad won his first honor on the boards. In two separate one-meter competitions at Queens, El-Haddad placed third and then at Brooklyn he took tops on the one-meter board with 186.6 points and then posted a score of 172.28 on the three-meter platform.
Tottenville High School product Defonte enjoyed a quality run in his first collegiate week. The rookie took a pair of second-place finishes in both meets, and earned his first gold medal finish with an 11:46.10 finish in the 1000-yard Freestyle event against Brooklyn. In all, Defonte swam in six different events, earning a gold, four silvers, and a bronze finish.
CSI is back in the water on Tuesday against William Paterson University. They will follow with a visit to Pace University on Friday.
