2002 CUNYAC Swimming & Diving Championships

Hunter and CSI Take Titles

Bronx, NY- A dominant Hunter College defeated the College of Staten Island, the two-time defending women's CUNYAC Champions by a 736 to 557 margin to win the school's first ever CUNYAC Tournament. In the first-ever men's event, CSI men's squad easily won the title at the APEX at Lehman College, winning by nearly 200 points.

In the women's competition Hunter won 10 of the 16 events to finally get over their rivals, despite not having any divers and sacrificing 103 points to the Dolphins. Junior Maureen McBride (Ridgefield, CT) was amazing as usual, winning four events, as did her teammate Lauren Hall (New York, NY), while another, Maura Yates (Staten Island, NY) won two races. McBride's three individual wins were in the 50 Yard Freestyle (26.55), the 100 Yard Individual Medley (1:09.79), and the 50 Yard Butterfly (29.04). Hall, a newcomer to the Hawks, took home gold in the 50 Yard Breaststroke (36.01), the 100 Yard Backstroke (1:11.37) and the 100 Yard Breaststroke (1:19.24), while Yates won the 500 Yard Freestyle (6:27.40)

"I am elated that we won today," said McBride, who earned her second Most Valuable Athlete of the event in three seasons. "We've been working towards this championship for two years. I'm thrilled for every member of this team."

The 2001 Tournament Most Valuable Athlete, Brooklyn College senior Svetlana Kutyrcheva (Brooklyn, NY) went out with a bang in her last CUNYAC Championship. Kutyrcheva topped her own championship records in the 200 Yard Individual Medley (2:28.18) and the 100 Yard Butterfly (1:07.13), but she was the only winner for the Bridges, who placed fifth.

Staten Island, the runners-up, were paced by junior Carolina Wroblewski (Staten Island, NY), who won the 100 Yard Freestyle (59.29) and the 200 Freestyle (2:16.32).

On the men's side, Staten Island was unstoppable, outscoring the next school, Brooklyn, by 191.5 points (557.5 to 366). CSI's Eugene Kagan (Staten Island, NY) won the 500 Yard Freestyle (5:57.58) and the 50 Yard Backstroke (33.07), a gold in the 200 Yard Medley Relay (1:55.03) and a silver in the 200 Yard Freestyle, leading the team to victory.

"It's such a team sport, this feels great," said Kagan. "It's really an honor to know that we will always be the first winners of this championship."

But in the race for Men's Most Valuable Athlete, Kagan was nudged out by York's Dennis McIntosh (Queens, NY), who was the only man to win three individual events- the 100 Yard Butterfly (58.11), the 50 Yard Freestyle (22.77) and the 50 Yard Freestyle (24.53). In the 50 Free, McIntosh stopped Lehman sophomore Manny Pantiga (Bronx, NY) from sweeping the freestyle events. Pantiga won the 100 Yard Freestyle (51.83) and the 200 Yard Freestyle (1:58.39). Lehman finished in third place and York slotted fourth. Brooklyn, behind junior Zafrir Kamusevitz (Brooklyn, NY) took home the silver team trophy. Kamusevitz won the 50 Yard Breaststroke (30.85) and the 100 Yard Breaststroke (1:09.45).

Women's Team Scoring
Hunter 736
Staten Island 557
Lehman 339
John Jay 223
Brooklyn 221
York 122

Men's Team Scoring
Staten Island 557.5
Brooklyn 366
Lehman 335.5
York 238