Staten Island, NY | The College of Staten Island Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving units opened up their respective seasons this afternoon and certainly got off to the start they wanted, as they sailed past FDU-Florham in a tight meet on both sides.  The CSI Men prevailed, 126-92, while the CSI Women pulled away at the end in a 110-95, victory.  The Dolphins are 1-0 on the season on both sides of the pool, while FDU is now 0-1 on both sides.

WOMEN'S MEET
FDU got off to the start that they wanted by taking the 200-yard Medley Relay by a healthy nine seconds, repeating the effort with a win by Molly Miller in the 1,000-yard Freestyle.  Cecelia Mauro got CSI to within 23-8 with a second-place finish there posting a time of 13:20.80.  FDU continued their win streak with a win in the 200-yard Freestyle from Emma Dougherty, but Kathleen Bridgman (1:42.61) and Melissa Poggioli (1:44.96) gained valuable points there by placing second and third.

Down 35-15, CSI made up good points with Dierdre McCafferty's 28.22 faring in the 50-yard Freestyle, good for CSI's first first-place finish of the year, and Gabriella Bartley and Victoria Musarella also gained points here to edge the Dolphins closer.  In the 200-yard Individual Medley, newcomer Sabella Vaserman scored a second-place finish with a time of 1:59.66, while Lisnette Solano and Mauro placed third and fourth, respectively.

Jen Basini scored a gold-medal performance in one-meter diving, posting 171.45 points, and because she went uncontested, she was able to tie the overall score.  CSI then started to pull away with a one-two finish by Vaserman and Bridgman in the 100-yard Butterfly, with Vaserman winning it with a time of 1:07.94.  Bartley then took home a win in the 100-yard Freestyle, with Musarella and Shara Banja earning points as well.  

Later, CSI's McCafferty would take her second win with a 5:25.13 race in the 500-yard Freestyle, with Mauro earning bronze.  CSI then clinched it in the 100-yard Breaststroke, when Solano flew in at 1:18.43, with Banja earning bronze as well.  For extra measure, the team of Bartley, Poggioli, Bridgman and McCafferty took home the win in the 200-yard Free Relay to give CSI the 15-point win.

In a highlight of the afternoon, the Dolphins raced a 200-yard Butterfly as a time trial, and there McCafferty swam an uncontested 2:24.32, a new CSI and pool record, making it a great debut for her.

MEN'S MEET
Led by uncontested diving and some great individual and relay performances, CSI had a more convincing win on the men's side, although the competition was strong throughout.  CSI scored a win in their first race of the 200-yard Medley Relay, as Chris Ivanov, Michael Stora, Peter Carle and Sami Jindyeh did the honors with a time of 1:45.54.  After a second-place finish by Michael Blacharski in the 1,000-yard Freestyle, CSI got another win outright in the 200-yard Freestyle from Peter Carle, who came in at 1:58.79, winning it by less than half of a second.

Ivanov then took his turn as an individual winner, winning the 50-yard Freestyle with a time of 23.54, also winning by less than half a tick, with Ilir Mujaj , John-Paul Hoey and Jason Torchio taking third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.  Michael Stora took silver in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:13.51, leading the way for Xavier Nicholson and Thomas Bridgman taking one-two in the one-meter diving competition.

Carle and Michael Sorensen took silver and bronze in the 100-yard Butterfly competition, and FDU inched closer with a win in the 100-yard Freestyle, but CSI took the rest of the places in that event.  After Ivanov took a second-place finish in the 100-yard Backstroke with a time of 1:01.65, Blacharski did the same in the 500-yard Freestyle.  That led into three-meter diving where CSI took another round of points as Bridgman topped the class with a score of 159.52 while Nicholson scored 150.75 to sweep the win.  The Dolphins pulled away with another run from Stora in the 100-yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:03.69.

To cap the run this afternoon, CSI's foursome of Torchio, Sorensen, Bridgman and Blacharski took first place in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay capping off a great day for the Dolphins overall.

CSI will now set their sights on next weekend when the season continues.  They will host Mount Saint Mary College at the CSI Sports & Recreation Center on Saturday at 12 Noon.