BRONX, NY - The 11th Annual CUNY Athletic Conference women's swimming and diving championships are now in the books with seven new records set during the three days of competition.
Jessica Penaherrera of Baruch College won the women's Most Valuable Swimmer for this year's meet, earning 98.5 points as the Bearcats won the team gold medal. Hunter College finished second overall, and Lehman College finished third.
Penaherrara got things started by earning her fifth gold medal of this year's championships. She won the 1650-yard freestyle in 20:34.38. Teammate Stephanie Wong finished silver with a 21:45.47, while Stacey Geoghegan of the Borough of Manhattan Community College finished third with a time of 21:50.51. Natalia Kravchuk of Baruch won the senior college bronze with a time of 21:52.61.
In the women's 200-yard backstroke, Heather Alvord of Hunter College won her third gold medal with a time of 2:15.81. Grace Kim of Baruch won silver with a 2:27.10 and Luisa Garcia of Lehman College won the bronze with a 2:28.77 time.
Alyssa Lubrino of Baruch won gold in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in 58.81. Yudelka Espinal of Lehman followed silver with a 1:00.13, while Marian Wu of Hunter won bronze with a 1:01.13 time.
Baruch won back-to-back events, as Priscilla Arana won gold with a time of 2:38.17 in the 200-yard breaststroke. Teammate Dorene Chin followed with a 2:45.47, as the bronze went to Sara Pazmino of York College with a 2:53.82 time.
Penaherrera won gold again for Baruch, this time in record-setting fashion. She 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.
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Ayanna Bennett, Pazmino, Averie Mohammed, and Dawn Davis won gold for York College - setting a new championship mark in the process. Their 3:50.16 time shattered Baruch's 2008 mark by almost 15 seconds. Baruch (Jia Feng, Julianna Fricchione, Chin, Lubrino) won silver at 3:57.88 and Lehman (Espinal, Garcia, Alonso, Joely Bernat) won bronze with a time of 4:08.55.
Day One Results
Day Two Results
Day Three Results
After the championships medal presentation, the CUNY Athletic Conference Awards for the 2009-10 season were also awarded:
Swimmer of the Year - Heather Alvord, Hunter College
Rookie Swimmer of the Year - Alyssa Lubrino, Baruch College
Coach of the Year - Charles Lampasso, Baruch College
CUNY Athletic Conference Sportsmanship Award - Nathalie Cuellar, John Jay College