Both Baruch teams captured the Championship title in the 11th annual CUNYAC Swimming and Diving Championships. On the men’s side, Baruch finished with 1,056 points, second was Lehman with 873 and CSI was finished third with 819. On the women’s side, Baruch tallied 1,044, Hunter came in second with 698, Lehman touched in at third with 642 and CSI finished in fourth with a point count of 453.
Despite the third place win, Vladislav Romanov and Nikolay Shevchenko were awarded Co-Most Valuable Swimmers of the meet.
Joe Lee from the College of Staten Island won gold in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:23.46. Kevin Kim of Baruch won silver with a time of 18:28.38 and teammate Patrick Campbell won bronze with a 19:02.93 effort.
CSI's Romanov set a new 200-yard backstroke record, winning gold in 1:53.88. He broke last year's record set by R. Michael Shiwnath of Baruch by over three seconds. Ryan Flynn of Baruch followed with a 2:11.34, while Lehman's Ivan Srdanovich won bronze with a 2:13.41.
Shevchenko made it two straight records for CSI, winning the 100-yard freestyle in 47.87, two seconds better than Baruch's Idan Saragosti mark in last year's championships. Kenny Kim of Baruch won silver with a 48.47 time, while teammate Boris Zhabinksi won bronze at 50.53.
CSI won three in a row, as Pavel Buyanov won gold in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:07.39. Justin Wong of Baruch won silver with a 2:23.03 time and Orlando Urena of Lehman won the bronze, finishing at 2:23.74.
Shevchenko made it four straight for CSI, winning the gold medal in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:54.95. Gabriel Yanez won silver with a time of 2:02.11, and Chris Mammano of Lehman won bronze with a time of 2:16.17.
CSI made it a clean-sweep for gold, winning the 400-yard freestyle relay in record time. Buyanov, Lee, Romanov, and Shevchenko finished in 3:15.28, one-second better than their 2009 effort. Baruch (Kevin Kim, Flynn, Zhabinski, Kenny Kim) won the silver at 3:19.14, and Lehman (Urena, Shala, Srdanovic, Arias) won bronze at 3:27.01.
Jessica Penaherrera of Baruch won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:26.89, shaving almost a second off of her effort last year. CSI's Gabriella Villarruel won silver with a 2:39.48, and Basilisa Alonso from Lehman won bronze with a 2:44.15 time.
Despite not scoring for CSI,Bartlett, Crea, Meiners and Villarruel swam in fourth in the 400 Yard Freestyle.
At the end of the Championships, the CUNY Athletic Conference Awards for the 2009-10 season were also awarded and CSI grabbed two honors. Shevcehnko was awarded CUNYAC Swimmer of the Year while Mohammed Hikal received CUNYAC Sportsmanship Award.
-Courtesy of CUNYAC Athletics