Strong first day for swimming and diving

Baruch's swimming teams kicked off the first day of the CUNYAC Finals by dominating the other schools and breaking several meet records.

The women's team took a commanding lead with 288 points, 37 points ahead of the next team, Hunter College.

On the men's side it was a lot closer, Baruch was on top with 264 points but Lehman was not far behind with their 259.5 points.

The first event of the day was 200 yard freestyle relay for women.  Baruch's A-team left their competition in the dust with a final time of 1.41.35, a CUNYAC record.

"For the 200 Freestyle Relay, we weren't looking for first place, we were kind of trying to be the first women to qualify for ECACs on our team," sophomore Julia Sung told CUNYAC.com after the race.

"The cut was 1:43.33 so basically for the entire season all we said was, "1:43.33" like all the time.  That was our one goal.  Not only did we get first place, but we beat it by two seconds.

Baruch's B team took third place with the final time of 1:53:55."

It was a very good day for the women's team who won both but every single event. They were particularly dominant in the 50- yard freestyle event where junior Alyssa Lubrino and sophomore Apolonia Cieslak took the top two spots.

The men did not fare as well but thanks to a strong team effort they were able to get several swimmers in the top five which propelled them to the top of the standings.

Baruch's head coach Charles Lampasso was very happy with his teams' performances after Day one.

"We swam real well today," Lampasso told CUNYAC.com. "Our ‘A' swimmers are up there doing what they need to do.  It is our depth that is coming up and doing a real good job.  That is what has put our women first."

He also emphasized how important the depth of the team has been on the men's side. "Lehman is holding their own and CSI is winning events, but our depth is just carrying us.   It's my depth swimmers, those seeded 16th that are taking 12th and allowing us to drag down the points. "

The Ticker went into production before the CUNYAC Finals concluded and was not able to include the full results.