Upper Montclair, NJ | The College of Staten Island Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving teams could not get past Montclair State University, as the teams fell in dual meet competition in a couple of tight contests.  The MSU Women prevailed 144-123, while the MSU Men took a 144-122 victory.  CSI fell to 4-3 on the women's side overall and 4-2 on the men's side.  

WOMEN'S MEET
MSU got off to a great start and never looked back, ultimately clinching the victory 10 events in, conceding points in the final few events to made the score a little closer than the match would indicate.  It started with a one-two finish in the 200-yard Medley Relay, but CSI responded nicely with an 11:09.29 race for Deirdre McCafferty in the 1,000-yard Freestyle, good enough to take the win over a couple of Red Hawks in the pool.  

CSI's only other first place finish today came by McCafferty in the 500-yard Freestyle, as she chimed in at 5:27.04, a 12-second winner over MSU's Taylor Waddleton.  

In other bright spots today, Lisnette Solano, posted a third-place finish in the 50-yard Breaststroke with a time of 38.01, while Sabella Vaserman had an equal-placed finish in the 100-yard Butterfly at 1:08.96.  Gabriella Bartley took bronze in the 50-yard Freestyle at 28.89, while Jen Basini twice came in second in one-meter diving.

Kathleen Bridgman earned points on the 100-yard Backstroke, gaining third with a time of 1:13.01, while Solano added another third-place finish in the 100-yard Breastsroke and McCafferty took a third-place finish in the 200-yard Individual Medley.  To finish the meet, CSI posted a third-place faring in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, as McCafferty, Melissa Poggioli, Solano, and Cecelia Mauro raced in at 1:58.88.

MEN'S MEET
The CSI Men kept things a little closer until MSU was able to gain victory in the 13th event.

To start, the foursome of Chis Ivanov, Michael Stora, Peter Carle and Ilir Mujaj came in second-place in the 200-yard Medley Rely in what was a tight race.  CSI then followed with thirs-place finishes by Michael Blacharski in the 1,000-yard Freestyle and Jason Torchio in the 200-yard Freestyle.  Ivanov did the same in the 50-yard Backstroke, before Stora got CSI closer with a second-place individual faring in the 50-yard Breaststroke, finishing at 29.18.

Carle earned a second-place finish as well in the 100-yard Butterfly with a time of 59.79, and Mujaj followed with a third-place run in the 50-yard Freestyle at 24.40.  CSI finally got their first gold medal in the diving event, as Xavier Nicholson posted 185.85 points to take victory over MSU;s Alex Pallne (169.05) and teammate Thomas Bridgman (142.95).

In one of the tightest races of the day, Stora had to settle for second place as Matt Ciattarelli posted a 1:04.37 time in the 100-yard Breaststroke, just 0.42 seconds faster than Stora's 1:04.79.

Even with MSU conceding points, Carle got his first first-place finish, doing it in the 50-yard Butterfly with a time of 25.87, and when diving came around again, Nicholson delivered, this time with a 141.75 score to take first while Bridgman took second (127.87).

For CSI, they will return to action on Saturday, January 11, against Sarah Lawrence at home, at 12 Noon.