2002-2003 CUNYAC / Burger King Championship

Hunter Women & CSI Men Defend Their Titles
February 1st, 2003

Bronx, NY - The women's team from Hunter College and the men's squad from the College of Staten Island took home the championship hardware for the second straight season in the 2002 CUNY Athletic Conference Women's & Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in the Bronx. Both teams were more significantly challenged, as Hunter's margin of victory was only 78 this year, as opposed to 179 point win last year. CSI, which won last year by 191.5 points, only managed a 58 point victory in 2003.


In the women's competition, Hunter won seven events against Staten Island's six, but it was the Hawks' depth again that proved again to be the deciding factor. The Hawks, the regular season conference champions, were buoyed by one last outstanding performance by senior Maureen McBride who won four gold medals. McBride broke the CUNYAC records in 50- yard backstroke (32.24) and the 100-yard butterfly (1:06.51). The Ridgefield, CT native, who also won the #1 singles title in CUNYAC Women's Tennis this season also took the gold in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:17.16) and teamed with the 200 yard freestyle relay which won in 1:54.85.

"If you would have told me 4 years ago that I would have won 16 gold medals, I would have been surprised,” said McBride who earned her third Most Valuable Performer honors. "When I won 4 gold in my first year I made my goal to win 16. To win for the second year in the row makes the saying true, its harder to defend the title rather than win it. It was a little tighter than we expected.”

CSI junior Carolina Wroblewski also won the four freestyle sprint events on the day. Individually the Staten Islander won the 50-yard freestyle (26.99), the 100 yard (1:00.62) and the 200 yard (2:20.70). She also anchored the Dolphins' opening 200- yard medley relay, which topped the meet in 2:13.62. Senior Amy Loeffler (Staten Island, NY) won both diving events for the Dolphins, the 1-meter with 185.25 points and the 3-meter with 195.70 points.

John Jay freshman Natalie Villar was the only other woman to win a race. Villar, who's originally from Lima, Peru won both individual medley races, the 100-yard in 1:13.64 and the 200 yard in 2:39.99.

"It's not a surprise that we won to me,” said first year Hunter coach Delon Callendar. "I expected us to win but Staten Island's additions were very helpful. They had us worried for a while after the first diving event.”

The men's competition was much more balanced, with York, the fourth place finisher winning six events and Baruch, the third place finisher winning five events and Lehman three events. Staten Island won only one event, 3 meter men's diving with sophomore Gerard Francois scoring 81.15 points to win.

"It's a team competition. Everyone on our team is so levelled I can't even single out one person” said Staten Island coach Oleg Soloviev. "It's almost impossible to pick out any individuals today.”

The Dolphins also won based on their team depth as 12 participants scored points for the team, led by sophomore Eugene Glebov. Glebov (Brooklyn, NY) finished second in the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly.

The most valuable performer on the men's side was York's Dennis McIntosh, who broke two of his own meet records today. The sophomore from Queens, NY was the only man to earn four gold medals. He set new marks in the 100-yard butterfly (55.54) and the 50-yard freestyle (22.57), while also winning the 50-yard butterfly (24.70) and the 200-yard medley relay (1:50.20).

"Personally I'm a little dissatisfied with my performances today” said the sophomore who won the MVP award last year as well. "I would have liked to set the record in the 50 fly, but I am happy for the team because it was a much more competitive meet than last season.”

York freshman Omar Diaz (Uniondale, NY) earned three top honors for the Cardinals, the 200 medley relay, the 50-yard backstroke (28.18) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.04).

Lehman, the host team, had a surprise second place finish as junior Manuel Pantiga broke his own two meet records from last season with a 50.82 mark in the 100-yard freestyle and a 1:55.64 mark in the 200-yard freestyle. Baruch captured third place as junior, Emrah Ertamay won the 50-yard breaststroke (29.33), the 100-yard individual medley (59:72) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.07), smashing last year's meet records.

Complete Women's Team Scoring: Hunter - 646, Staten Island - 572, Baruch - 375, John Jay - 269, York - 255 Lehman - 123, Brooklyn (no team score), Queensborough (no team score).

Complete Men's Team Scoring: Staten Island - 543, Lehman - 485, Baruch - 408.5 , York - 321, Brooklyn - 257.5, Queensborough (no team score).