The College of Staten Island men’s swimming & diving team narrowly slid by Baruch College this evening in Manhattan, while the Bearcats got the better of the Dolphins on the women’s side as part of CUNYAC play this evening. The CSI men claimed a 104-101 win, while the Bearcats held true on the women’s side, 128-71.
The CSI foursome of Tim Sweeney, Brandon Lei, Derek Villa, and Youssef Aly got CSI started well with a solid win in the 200-meter Medley Relay, putting CSI ahead with a time of 1:58.58. One event later Villa and Zaky took first and third in the 800-meter Freestyle to build the lead. Jonathan Gorinshteyn topped out in the 200-meter Freestyle and later Sweeney doubled as an 11-second winner in the 200-meter Individual Medley.
Sweeney and Villa would add more wins in the 100-meter Butterfly and the 100-meter Freestyle, But Baruch stayed within striking distance thanks to heavy depth scoring points in other positions, and then a win by Eddy Min in the 100-meter Backstroke.
Not to be outdone, Nicholas Defonte added a key win by almost 30 seconds in the 400-meter Freestyle, and Gorinshteyn added another solid race in the 100-meter Breaststroke winning by a slim three seconds with a time of 1:11.80.
Up by 12 points going into the final relay, the Bearcats would win the 200-meter Freestyle Relay, but the Dolphins quartet of Aly, Jude Nicholson, Gorinshteyn and Defonte did manage to take second by a tenth of a second to secure the small three-point win.
On the women’s side, Baruch did not trail, building a 13-2 lead after the first event and never truly looking back. Naomi Gaggi took an impressive second place in the 800-meter Freestyle, and in the third event, CSI got their first gold when Ewa Wojciechowska raced the 200-meter Freestyle in 2:22.32, winning by over four seconds.
CSI stayed hot from there as Victoria Crea won the 50-meter Freestyle by just five-one-hundredth of a second at 29.63, and Samantha Escobedo followed with a second place finish in the 200-meter Individual Medley. Later on, Escobedo would take top honors in the 100-meter Backstroke with a time of 1:16.82.
The Dolphins would then finish strong, winning another pair of races. First Wojciechowska took her second race, the 400-meter Freestyle, with a time of 5:05.47, and then she anchored the team of Escobedo, Gaggi and Crea to a win in the 200-meter Freestyle Relay winning by over 9 seconds with a time of 1:52.79.
There were no diving events tonight, which certainly could have factored in CSI’s favor otherwise.
The CSI men are now 3-1 overall this season a 2-0 in CUNYAC play. The women are 2-3 overall, 2-1 within the CUNYAC. Both teams will participate next in the Drew University Ranger Invitational which takes place on December 2-3 in Madison, NJ.
