DAY 2 RESULTS / DAY 2 SCORES – The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s swimming and diving units continued their run through the CUNYAC Championship Meet, culminating day two with another set of highlights and a first place faring for the men’s unit, while the women sit in third.  With Sunday morning left on the ledger, the Dolphins are hoping for a great final push towards another championship by tomorrow afternoon.

A total of 16 events took place on Saturday, eight for both the men and the women, and CSI powered to seven first-place finishes, complete with a pair of school records and a pair of new CUNYAC Championship Meet records as well.

The first event was the 200-yard Medley Relay, and after the CSI women took the bronze with Samantha Escobedo, Dakota Dawkins, Naomi Gaggi, and Ewa Wojciechowska, it was the men’s turn to take to the pool, and the foursome of Nicholas Defonte, Jonathan Gorinshteyn, Derek Villa and Tim Sweeney was able to take a half-second win with a time of 1:41.16.   Up next was the 400-yard Individual Medley, with Hunter Dawkins taking 10th on the women’s side and Brandon Lei and Christopher Sorenson taking fourth and fifth, respectively.

That bled into the 100-yard Butterfly, and Sweeney shot to a convincing time of 50.45, easily winning the event by nearly seven seconds and with it claiming a new CUNYAC Championship record.  Wojciechowska followed with a win in the 200-yard Freestyle, putting up an exceptional time of 1:59.35, a new CUNYAC Championship record and a new CSI record as well.  When the men took the pool, Derek Villa doubled the effort with another first-place finish with a time of 1:48.75, winning the event by four-tenths of a second.

In 100-yard Breaststroke competition, freshman Gorinshteyn posted a medal finish with a time of 1:02.48, good for second.  That followed a fourth-place faring on the women’s side by Dakota Dawkins.  In a rare tie, Samantha Escobedo earned a bronze medal in the 100-yard Backstroke, posting a time of 1:06.22.  Then, in one of the tightest races, Defonte posted a win in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 57.46, winning by one-quarter of a second.

Up next was diving, and CSI competed in the men’s bracket on the one-meter boards.  Ayman El Haddad scored the gold with 252.9 points, closely followed by brother Ayman El Haddad who took the silver with 234.75 points.

To finalize the meet day, the women finished with a bang, as the foursome of Kelly Walsh, Gaggi, Escobedo, and Wojciechowska posted a new school record time of 8:45.37 in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay, winning the event by over 9 seconds.  The CSI men posted a third place finish in the same event, garnering valuable points.

After two days, Hunter College leads the women’s division with 352 points, followed by Baruch College’s 271.  CSI is next up at 248.5 points followed by Lehman (206.5), John Jay (142), Brooklyn (133), and York (50).  On the men’s side, CSI leads the competitive field with 405 points, followed by Lehman’s 370 and Baruch’s 319.  Brooklyn trails with 172 points,and York’s  82 rounds out the field.?

The event continues tomorrow at 10:00am at Lehman College and the awards ceremonies and the crowning of the champions will follow.