Bronx, NY | The College of Staten Island Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving units returned to their winning ways, doing it on the road against CUNYAC-rivals Lehman College on Thursday evening to raise their overall records after a lengthy layoff.  The CSI Women prevailed 128-69 to advance to 4-2 this season, while the CSI Men won 159-60 to advance to 4-1.

WOMEN'S MEET
CSI got in a hole early, as a disqualification in the 200-yard Medley Relay gave Lehman a 15-0 lead to start the match after just one event, but the Dolphins quickly got back into it one event later when Deirdre McCafferty (11:15.36) and Cecelia Mauro (13:19.78) came in one-two in the 1,000-yard Freestyle to pull closer.  Next up, in the 200-yard Freestyle, CSI took a 26-20 lead that it would never surrender thanks to another one-two finish by McCaffery (2:06.16) and Melissa Poggioli (2:25.71).

Gabriella Bartley scored gold next in the 50-yard Freestyle with a time of 28.33, and coming in second was Bridget Mulvey, who made her CSI debut with a finish of 29.45.  Less than a half second behind her was Mariya Alyokhina, while Victoria Musarella came in fourth as well.  Kathleen Bridgman scored herself a first-place finish next in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:33.81 while teammate Sabella Vaserman was close behind in second at 2:36.55.  CSI then took a larger lead when Jen Basini recorded a score of 153.6 on the one-meter diving board for yet another first-place finish.

After Mauro posted a silver finish in the 100-yard Butterfly (1:22.10), CSI continued to win events when Bartley took gold in the 100-yard Freestyle with a time of 1:04.93, followed by Alyokhina, Musarella, and Sahra Banja.  Poggioli and Djulieta Gatman followed with a second and third-place finish in the 100-yard Backstroke before McCafferty capped a terrific night with a first-place standing in the 500-yard Freestyle with a time of 5:31.91.  Lisnette Solano joined the first-place party with a 1:18.67 run in the 100-yard Breaststroke, with Banja recording a 1:29.09 finish for second.

To close the meet, CSI won the 200-yard Freestyle Relay with a run of 2:02.12 from Musarella, Gatman, Bartley and Mauro, winning the event by over 20 seconds.

MEN'S MEET
The Dolphins led wire-to-wire in their meet against Lehman in men's play, with CSI sweeping first-place in every event in one of their finest meets of the year.  To start, the quartet of Chris Ivanov, Tom Smith, Peter Carle and John-Paul Piscopo came in at 1:50.19 in the 200-yard Medley Relay winning by just three seconds.  Jason Torchio and Carle then followed with a one-two finish in the 1,000-yard Freestyle, with Torchio coming in a 13:03.20.  Michael Blacharski (2:02.87) and Piscopo (2:08.28) then did the same in the 200-yard Freestyle, expanding the lead.

In the fast 50-yard Freestyle, Ilir Mujaj took an individual gold medal performance with a run of 24.12 in the crowded field, followed by teammate Ivanov who came in at 24.28, while Michael Sorensen earned points for a 4th-place run of 25.12.  Michael Stora then earned the first of three first-place finishes with a strong 2:18.66 showing in the 200-yard Individual Medley, winning the event by 15 seconds.

Xavier Nicholson took first-place on the one-meter board with a score of 190.13, while Thomas Bridgman earned 160.65 for third place.  The duo would switch results on the three-meter boards later, as Bridgman took first with a score of 176.40, while Nicholson took third with 161.25.

Carle started things up after diving with a 59.80 performance in the 100-yard Butterfly, followed by Sorensen at 1:06.26.  Ivanov kept it rolling with a win in the 100-yard Freestyle at 53.38, winning by less than half of a second over Lehman's Anton Kyrylenko.  Mujac and Torchio took third and fourth, respectively.  Stora then shined in the 100-yard Backstroke, winning by over four seconds with a time of 1:05.09, with Piscopo taking fourth in the event.  Then, in the 500-yard Freestyle, Blacharski ran solo and scored a win with a time of 5:52.21.

Rounding out the meet was Stora recording a 1:03.55 time in the 100-yard Breaststroke, with Tom Smith taking second place and Mujaj appearing in third.  Sorensen, Torchio, Bridgman and Blacharski followed with an eight-second win in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay to close the match with a time of 1:44.51.

CSI will next be in action on Saturday afternoon for a matinee against Montclair State University with race time scheduled for 12 Noon.