This weekend’s weather did not stop the select members of CSI’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving team from traveling to Pittsburgh for the 2010 ECAC Open Championships. Nikolay Shevchenko, Pavel Buyanov, Vlad Romanov, Joe Lee and April Bartlett represented the College of Staten Island at the Championships that were held at the University of Pittsburgh from Friday through Sunday.
Bartlett was the only member from the women’s team that took part in the Open and helped place the Dolphins in the 22nd spot of the 24 teams in participation. Division I Marist College came in first place at the meet.
The four men came in 11th place out of the 21 teams at the event. CUNY’s rival Baruch College came in 21st place for the men. First place was taken by the Naval Academy.
Bartlett’s lone event was in the women’s one meter dive. She came in 13th place in the preliminaries with a score of 108.60, however, her score was not good enough to place her in the final event.
Shevchenko started it off for the Dolphins as he tackled 10th place in the men’s 200 IM with a time of 1:53.28. Shevchenko was 16th out of 58 swimmers in the preliminaries for the men’s 100 Butterfly. In the finals, he then timed in at 50.95, the exact same time as St. Peter’s College’s VukSimonFio Mladjenovic, resulting in a swim off for the 15th place. Shevchenko won, bettering his first try, with a time of 50.94 while Mladjenovic tapped in at 51.04. In the 200 Butterfly, Shevchenko finished in 7th place with a time of 1:52.27.With his times at the ECAC Open, Shevcehnko qualified for the NCAA’s in mid-March.
Buyanov captured third in the Men’s 100 Yard Breaststroke with a time of 56.02. In the 200 Yard Breaststroke prelim’s, Buyanov finished in first, however, in the final Loyola’s Brennan Morris, who placed third in the prelim’s, came in first place. Buyanov came in second place in the final event with a time of 2:03.79, just behind Morris with a time of 2:03.60.
Sophomore swimmer, Romanov, timed in at 51.62 in the 100 Backstroke taking 6th place. In the 200 Yard Backstroke, he bettered his ranking with a bronze finish with a time of 1:50.70.
The team of Lee, Buyanov, Shevchenko and Romanov came in 7th place in the 400 Yard Medley Relay with a time of 3:26.82. Later, in the 200 Yard Medley Relay the same team of swimmers placed 8th with a time of 1:35.07.