Staten Island, NY |  The College of Staten Island Women's Swimming & Diving team scored a pair of wins tonight in a double-dual meet against both Brooklyn College and John Jay College, but the men weren't as fortunate, falling at the hands of Brooklyn at the Sports & Recreation Center.  The CSI women defeated John Jay, 125-74, while scoring a more heavy-handed, 139-51, win over Brooklyn, but the Bulldogs exacted revenge against the Dolphins on the men's side, scoring a 118-106 win.  The CSI men fell to 5-4 with the loss, while the women improved to 7-4 overall.

WOMEN'S MEET
CSI was dominant from start to finish on both ends of tonight's meet against the familiar CUNYAC sides, taking a vast number of the events outright.  That all started with a first place run in the 200-yard Medley Relay, where Djulieta Gatman, Sahra Banja, Lisnette Solano, and Bridget Mulvey, won a tight race by less than a second over the Brooklyn foursome, coming in at 2:17.65, to get off to a lead they never relinquished.

Kathleen Bridgman then followed suit with a first-place run in the 1000-yard Freestyle as CSI's only competitor, scoring a time of 12:28.47, winning by almost a full minute.  Melissa Poggioli kept the streak alive with a first-place finish against a six-person field in the 100-yard Freestyle, coming in at 2:18.53.  Victoria Musarella earned points with a time of 2:33.91, good for second against Brooklyn and third against John Jay.  

CSI's first-place run came to an end when Monique Souza scored a win for JJC in the 50-yard Freestyle at 27.93, but CSI's Gabriella Bartley was right behind her for second at 28.72.  Sabella Vaserman had a great night tonight, and she started with a top mark in the 200-yard Individual Medley, scoring a 2:32.13 finish, winning by over seven seconds, while Solano posted a park of 2:45.32 to also earn points.  Then came diving, and CSI utilized the break to score more points on the one-meter board, as Jen Basini took the top spot with a mark of 169.72.  

After Bartley took a pair of second-place finishes in the 100-yard Freestyle, Bridgman scored another win in the 100-yard Backstroke, winning by almost eight full seconds with a time of 1:11.43.  Poggioli also took another first-place sweep with a time of 6:10.17 in the 500-yard Freestyle, winning the event by 23 seconds.  CSI then finished strong, as Solano scored a win in the 100-yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:19.82 and the foursome of Bridgman, Vaserman, Poggioli and Bartley made it complete with a seven-second win in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay, giving CSI the pair of lopsided wins.

MEN'S MEET
In a meet that was perhaps much closer than the final score would indicate, it would come down to the final event between these two sides, an event won by Brooklyn that ultimately tilted the final score.

Before all that, however, CSI got out to the early lead when Chris Ivanov, Michael Stora, Pater Carle, and Sami Jindyeh took the 200-yard Medley Relay race by over 12 seconds with a time of 1:45.73.  Brooklyn edged closer when Peter Ebert won the 1,000-yard Freestyle ahead of Michael Blacharski, and later, a Konstantin Lomryko in the 200-yard Freestyle gave BC the short edge, as he beat Carle's time of 1:59.01 bu just under four seconds.  

After BC scored their third-straight win in the 50-yard Freestyle, CSI got back into it with a win by Stora in the 200-yard Individual Medley at 2:13.15, and then the duo of Thomas Bridgman and Xavier Nicholson finished one-two on the one-meter and three meter boards to open up a 13-point lead over the Bulldogs.  But sure enough, Brooklyn would chip away, despite a win by Ivanov in the 100-yard Backstroke at 1:01.15, and then a 2-3-4 placing in the 100-yard Breaststroke, led by Stora (1:02.92), Tom Smith (1:06.48), and Ilir Mujaj (1:12.09).  After those events, CSI was down by five points heading into the final event of the day, the 200-yard Freestyle Relay.

Down to the final event, CSI stayed close at first, but the a surge by the foursome of Andwele Estwick, Mark, Maceachen, Ronaldo Barrios, and James Rupa was enough to solidify a three-second win in the race as they came in at 1:41.04, three seconds ahead of CSI's team of Michael Sorensen, Nicholson, Michael Blacharski, and Jason Torchio.


Both the CSI Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving teams will be back in action on Saturday, January 18, when they face off against Adelphi University, at 12 Noon, in their final regular season meet at home.  CSI will honor their two seniors during the meet as well.