Piscataway, NJ | In what was their final meet of the season, the College of Staten Island men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams participated in the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Championships in Piscataway, NJ, this weekend. CSI only sent an elite handful to participate in the meet and they performed handsomely. The CSI men placed 15th overall in the meet while the women placed 18th.
Rowan University won the women’s and men’s meet overall. The meet features teams and athletes from all three NCAA Divisions.
The three day meet featured events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and CSI was there every step of the way. The following below is a breakdown of how the CSI teams performed:
Friday’s Events
EVENT #2 – Men’s 200-yard Freestyle Relay
The CSI team of Jonathan Gorinshteyn, Brandon Lei, Peter Carle and Leo Litovsky took 14th among 16 schools in the preliminary round of the 200-yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:36.79. They did not swim in Friday’s Finals.
EVENT #3 – Women’s 500-yard Freestyle
CSI’s Alicia Defonte and Cecelia Mauro took part in preliminaries on Friday morning. Defonte placed 45th with a time of 6:19.55, shaving seven seconds off of her personal best seed time this season. Mauro placed 48th of 52 swimmers, with a time of 6:42.98.
EVENT #4 – Men’s 500-yard Freestyle
Leo Litovsky finished in 46th place among the field of 51 in preliminaries, coming in at a time of 5:45.66
EVENT #6 – Men’s 200-yard Individual Medley
Both Gorinshteyn and Lei competed here in preliminaries. Gorinshteyn would place 36th in the field of 50 with a quality time of 2:10.89, while Lei clocked in at 2:16.07, good for 42nd overall.
EVENT #8 – Men’s 50-yard Freestyle
Carle was CSI’s first one in during preliminaries with a time of 23.68, his fastest time of the season, good for a tie for 53rd in the event that featured 78 swimmers.
EVENT #12 – Men’s 400-yard Medley Relay
CSI scored an 11th place finish, their best of the day during preliminaries. The team of Lei, Gorinshteyn, Carle and Litovsky came in at 3:56.69. In the finals later in the evening on Friday, the same unit this time included Nicholas Defonte in place of Lei, and the team moved up a place to 10th overall with a time of 3:48.61.
Saturday’s Events
EVENT 14 – Men’s 200-yard Medley Relay
Again, CSI placed 11th in the field overall, this time posting a time of 1:45.82 with Defonte, Lei, Carle and Gorinshteyn in the race. In Saturday evening’s final round, CSI once again finished 11th, this time shaving their time even further at 1:44.51.
EVENT 18 – Men’s 100-yard Butterfly
In preliminaries, Carle placed 39th among 57 swimmers with a time of 57.01, shaving his personal best time by over two seconds. Christopher Sorensen placed 54th overall with a time of 1:02.59.
EVENT 19 – Women’s 200-yard Freestyle
Wojciechowska was a qualifier thanks to a time of 2:02.29, coming in 21st during preliminaries. Mauro came in 41st of 43 with a time of 2:28.72. In the evening medal round, Wojciechowska placed 17th overall with a time of 1:59.06, beating her season’s best time by over three seconds.
EVENT 20 – Men’s 200-yard Freestyle
Litovsky placed 43rd among 48 swimmers with a time of 2:04.27 during preliminaries.
EVENT 22 – Men’s 100-yard Breaststroke
Gorinshteyn placed 26th in the field with a time of 1:03.96, his fastest of the season. Lei came in at 34th in the field among 43, with a time of 1:08.02, also his best this season.
EVENT 23 – Women’s 100-yard Backstroke
Alicia Defonte scored a time of 1:07.73 during morning preliminaries, her finest time of the season, good for 40th in the field of 65.
EVENT 24 – Men’s 100-yard Backstroke
Nicholas Defonte qualified for the finals with a time of 57.12, good for 23rd among 39 in the field. In the evening final heats, Defonte jumped up three places into 20th overall with a time of 56.34.
Sunday’s Events
EVENT 32 – Men’s 100-yard Backstroke
Nicholas Defonte just made the qualifying cut in preliminaries with a time of 2:01.18, good for 24th in the field of 44. In the evening’s final heat, Defonte was again 24th with a time of 2:01.92.
EVENT 33 – Women’s 100-yard Freestyle
Wojciechowska scored a qualifying time of 55.53, good for 19th overall in the field of 72. Also in prelims, Alicia Defonte placed 47th with a time of 1:02.15, her personal best this season, and Cecelia Mauro placed 60th with a time of 1:05.38. During the evening finals session, Wojciechowska came in at 55.11, her best, good for 20th place overall.
EVENT 34 – Men’s 100-yard Freestyle
Leo Litovsky put up a time of 56.00, good for 60th among 69 in the preliminary heats.
EVENT 36 – Men’s 200-yard Breaststroke
Gorinshteyn just missed the cut at preliminaries, posting 26th-place in the event with a time of 2:24.57. Lei also performed, posting a time of 2:35.13, good for 32nd place among 36 competitors.
EVENT 38 – Men’s 200-yard Butterfly
Carle starred here for CSI, taking 30th overall among 38 swimmers with a time of 2:20.48, beating his personal best by over eight seconds. Christopher Sorensen also competed, posting a time of 2:31.06, good for 36th overall.
EVENT 42 – Men’s 400-yard Freestyle Relay
In the final event, CSI’s team of Lei, Carle, Gorinshteyn and Defonte put up a time of 3:31.31, good for 13th overall and a trip to the final legs in the evening. Once there, CSI finished in 12th again, this time with a time of 3:28.98.