The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up the Drew University Ranger Invitational this evening, and senior Tim Sweeney continued his record breaking performances to highlight the event as the men placed second overall amongst the six competing teams and the women came in third.
The morning heats on Saturday consisted of eight events, and Sweeney doubled up on his school and CUNYAC records. First, Sweeney popped in a first-place performance in the 200-yard Butterfly event, where he blazed in at 1:52.02, winning the event by 10 seconds and breaking the records while also achieving an NCAA B-cut time. Then later, to end the morning session, Sweeney was the first off in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay, and he led the Dolphins to a second-place finish overall. His split time at 200 was a stellar 1:42.48, breaking his own 200 Free record and setting a new record for the CUNYAC as well.
As if he had any more to prove, Sweeney was aces again in the 400-yard Freestyle Relay in the evening session, again starting the race and setting a new school and CUNYAC record in the 100-yard Free with a time of 46.78. For the weekend, Sweeney broke five CSI and CUNYAC records and set an NCAA B-cut time, not to mention being CSI’s top point-earner as CSI finished with a total of 213 points, good enough for second place behind host Drew which finished with 265.
There were more highlights on the men’s side as well, including Nicholas Defonte’s third-place turn in the 100-yard Backstroke at 56.82. Jonathan Gorinshteyn was a fourth-place finisher in the 100-yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.93 and the 200-yard Breaststroke with a quality run of 2:22.09. Defonte and Derek Villa placed back-to-back in the 100-yard Freestyle in sixth and seventh place, while Chris Pinto earned a bronze medal in the 200-yard Backstroke.
Diving also took center stage on Saturday evening, and the Dolphins swept the boards. Adil El Haddad won on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, narrowing past Jude Nicholson on the shorter platform and brother Ayman on the 3-meter.
The CSI women came in third place overall this evening behind host Drew and NCAA Division II Queens College. Samantha Escobedo got the Dolphins on the board first with a fifth place finish in the 100-yard Backstroke and she would add another fifth place finish in the 200-yard installment. Later, Ewa Wojciechowska narrowly missed a first-place finish in the 100-yard Freestyle with a time of 55.80, coming in second place by just 0.12 seconds. Nouran Abualam was CSI’s top diver this evening, scoring a fifth-place finish on the 1-meter boards while placing third on the 3-meter.
As a team, the CSI women earned third-place finishes in both the 400 and 800-yard Freestyle Relay events.
In all, the weekend meet was a highly competitive and successful one for the Dolphins. They will now prepare for their next dual meets coming in the weeks ahead. The women will swim against Hunter College on Friday, December 9 at 6:30pm, while the men and women will return together the following Friday, December 16, at 6pm at home against Lehman College.
