The College of Staten Island celebrated a win in its lone meet a week ago in both men’s and women’s swimming, and this week were rewarded handsomely with a clean sweep of weekly honors from the City University of New York Athletic Conference. On the men’s side, Timothy Sweeney earned Performer of the Week honors while Omar Zaky took Rookie of the Week honors and Jude Nicholson his first Diver of the Week citation. On the women’s side, it was Ewa Wojciechowska taking another Performer of the Week honor, while Alicia Defonte took Rookie honors and Nora Abualam diving honors.
The Dolphins had a lone meet against Lehman College with which to operate in the pool and it was a successful one on both ends. The Dolphins men took a 157-74 win and the weekly winners were at the forefront in the win. Senior Tim Sweeney participated in three individual events, taking first place in each while surpassing two pool records in the process. In the 1,000-yard Freestyle he punched in a time of 10:30.40, and later in the program a new record was set also in the 500-yard Freestyle with a time of 4:56.18. Sweeney would add a win in the 100-yard Freestyle with a race time of 53.07. Sweeney leads all Dolphins with 226 points, along with 16 first place finishes.
Rookie Omar Zaky has had similar success with 96 total points this season, good for fifth on the team. Zaky was a part of two relay teams that took first place in the Lehman meet, and then he posted a second-place finish in his lone individual race, the 100-yard Backstroke, with a solid time of 1:01.90.
Garnering his first weekly award of the year was Nicholson, who was very strong on both boards against Lehman. The freshman was tops on the one-meter boards against six other divers, topping out with a score of 189.75. On the three-meter board Nicholson gained more precious points with a second-place score of 171.60. For the year, Nicholson is seventh on the squad with 72 total points and has seven top three finishes in individual events, all in diving.
On the women’s side, Wojciechowska won her third weekly award from the CUNYAC, winning two individual races and lending herself to CSI’s victorious 200-yard Freestyle Relay. She won the 200-yard Individual Medley by over 70 seconds last week with a time of 2:25.23 and also took the 100-yard Freestyle event at 56:58. Wojciechowska leads the team with 242 points earned this season and 13 first-place finishes.
Alicia Defonte enjoyed a strong meet as well, lending herself to two relay gold medals and winning the 100-yard Backstroke competition with a time of 1:10.88. Defonte is tied for third on the squad in points earned this year with 171, and she leads the team with 13 top three finishes in relay events to go with her 10 top three finishes in individual events as well.
Abualam won Diver of the Week honors for the second-straight week after another solid effort against Lehman. Abualam took first place on both boards, scoring 148.87 on the one-meter platform and 144.07 on the three-meter board. For the season, the freshman is sixth on the team with 93 points and her seven first-place finishes leads the team.
Both CSI units will now be idle until January 12, when they face off against non-conference rivals St. Joseph’s College of Brooklyn at the Sports & Recreation Center at 6pm.
