The College of Staten Island men's and women's swim teams got to ring in the New Year with a win, traveling to Lehman College and scoring a CUNYAC victory in the pool this evening.  The CSI women made in convincing with a 150-67 triumph, while the men were able to slip by with a 127-113 win.  The CSI men improved to 6-2 overall and 4-0 in the CUNYAC, while the women upped their marks to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the CUNYAC.

In a one-sided women's meet, CSI was able to score 11 first-place finishes in the 13-event meet.  The team of Samantha Escobedo, Dakota Dawkins, Tina Chen and Adrienne Vivas got the Dolphins started in the 200-yard Medley Relay and from there, CSI flourished.  Vivas followed with a first place win in the 1000-yard Freestyle, followed closely by teammate Hunter Dawkins.  Vivas earned gold in the 00 Free as well, while Dakota Dawkins won first place in the 200-yard Freestyle and 100-yard Breaststroke.

Participating in her first meet, Escobedo was a winner in the 200 Yard Individual Medley and 100-yard Backstroke.  Meanwhile, on the diving platforms, April Bartlett shined, taking first place honors on both the one and three-meter boards, followed by teammate Stephanie Collyer.  CSI's Lauren Overeem provided another first-place finish with a triumph in the 100-yard Butterfly event.

It was a much narrower win for the CSI men.  The Dolphins got off to an early lead thanks to a strong relay showing in the 200-yard Medley Relay, and even though CSI took every first-place finish in the meet, Lehman responded with strong second and third place finishes to keep pace.  Tim Sweeney scored a nice run in the 1000-yard Freestyle with a time of 10:54.63, and after that, he followed with gold in the 200-yard Freestyle with a time of 1:49.95.  Yury Zimarev squeezed by LC's Ramon Peralta in the 50-Free, while Danila Novikov blew away the field in the 200 IM with a time of 2:06.71.

Zimarev added another win in the 100 Butterfly, as did Novikov in the 100 Free and John Pignatelli on both diving boards, but in the final events CSI got the lift it needed to claim victory.

Pignatelli scored important points on the three-meter boards, and then Novikov clinched things with a strong race in the 100 Breaststroke, where he beat the rest of the field by a full two seconds.  Lehman was able to win the next event, the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, but by then, CSI had built up enough of a lead to clinch the win.

CSI will now look to continue the roll, hosting York College this coming Friday, January 10, at the CSI Sports & Recreation Center at 6pm.