The College of Staten Island men’s swim team fell in their final regular season road meet, dropping a 103-74 decision at the hands of NCAA Division I St. Francis College in Brooklyn this evening. CSI ended the regular season at 7-3 overall, while the Terriers advanced their overall record to 2-6.
Despite the final score CSI was able to win five of the meet’s 10 total events, as it was the Terriers’ depth that was the main component for the win. St. Francis won the first three events in the competition, building up a sizable 46-9 advantage in the beginning. CSI battled back, however, as Timur Rakhimov raced to a 2:10.46 time in the 200-yard Individual Medley, good for the Dolphins’ first top finish of the night, while Sergio Miranda took third.
Three events later, CSI struck gold again in the 100-yard Backstroke, this time with Danila Novikov leading the way with a time of 55.79. That started a four-race streak of wins for CSI. Tim Sweeney took first in the 500-yard freestyle with Stephen O’Driscoll taking third place, before Rakhimov stepped up again for a first-place finish in the 100-yard Breaststroke.
Although St. Francis had the meet in hand, CSI took home the final event of the evening, the 200-yard Freestyle Relay. There, the team of Yury Zimarev, Derek Villa, Stephen O’Driscoll and Mitchell Lovell raced in at 1:31.94, beating the Terriers foursome by less than two-tenths of a second.
CSI will get one more tune-up before the CUNYAC Championship Meet, when they host Sarah Lawrence College at the Sports & Recreation Center on Saturday at 1pm.
