With one day officially in the books at the Drew University Invitational in Madison, NJ, the College of Staten Island is making waves, with the men positioned in third place among four competing teams and the CSI women placing fifth out of five on the women’s side. 

The Invitational featured heats in the morning, with more heats this afternoon in a total of nine events on each side.  In the morning, things started with the 200-yard Individual Medley, and on the women’s side, Alicia Defonte turned in a season-best when she came in at 2:35.80, good for 9th overall.  On the men’s side, Jonathan Gorinshteyn got off to a good start with a fourth-place run and a time of 2:13.10.

In a rare tie, CSI’s Ewa Wojciechowska earned CSI’s first Top 3 finish in the 50-yard Freestyle, coming in third place with a time of 26.60.  On the men’s side, Nicholas Defonte turned in a fourth-place finish at 23.30, and then Peter Carle turned in a fifth-place run a season-best time of 24 seconds even.

In other quality morning races, the CSI men turned in a third place showing in the 200-yard Medley Relay with a time of 1:47.27 run by Defonte, Gorinshteyn, Carle, and Michael Sorensen, and then Leo Litovsky got big points with a 5th-place finish in the 1,650-yard Freestyle event, with a time of 21:31.21.

In the afternoon session, CSI started with a 4th-place run in the women’s 200-yard Freestyle Relay with Cecelia Mauro, Gabriella Bartley, Defonte, and Wojciechowska pulling anchor.  The CSI men grabbed bronze in the same event.  

After Carle finished sixth in the 100-yard Butterfly, Wojciechowska placed fifth in the 200-yard Freestyle with a time of 2:08.82.  

CSI finished the afternoon with their best place of the day by earning 2nd place in the 400-yard Medley Relay, as the team of Defonte, Gorinshteyn, Carle, and Litovsky turned in a time of 4:01.97.

After a total of 18 events, The CSI men earned 62 points, putting them behind Drew (177) and FDU-Florham (85), and in front of Queens (13).  The CSI women have 35.5 points, and trail Drew (160), Queens (105), FDU-Florham (73.5) and Fashion Institute of Technology (59).

The Invitational continues tomorrow with three sessions.