Flushing, N.Y. – The City University of New York Athletic Conference along with Applebee’s has named the 2012 Men’s Swimming and Diving All-Stars, and the College of Staten Island’s Vladislav Romanov and Timur Rakhimov have been named the Athlete and Rookie of the Year, respectively. Coach Charles Lampasso from Baruch is tabbed as Coach of the Year while Lehman’s Chris Polanco receives the Sportsmanship Award.
Romanov, the CUNYAC/Hospital for Special Surgery’s Scholar Athlete of the Month for the month of December finished with top times in all the events he swam in during the 2012 CUNYAC/Applebee’s Swimming Championships. The senior received seven gold medals which included the 500 yard freestyle (4:49.17), 400 yard medley relay (3:32.92), 200 yard medley relay (1:36.41) and 200 yard backstroke (1:53.23). Romanov also set three new meet records in the 100 yard backstroke (52.52), 800 yard medley relay (7:10.77), and 400 yard freestyle (3:14.22). During the season, one of Romanov’s finest performances happened during the ECAC Division III Open Championships were he broke both school and ECAC records and qualified for Nationals set in March.
Fellow teammate Rakhimov stood out as a freshman this year with impressive performances throughout the season and in the CUNAC championships. Rakhimov was part of the 200 yard freestyle relay, 400 yard medley relay, 200 yard medley relay and 800 yard freestyle relay which all garnered the Dolphins’ squad with gold medals. The freshman also earned two individual gold medals in the 100 yard breaststroke (58.63), and 200 yard breaststroke (2:07.70) and got a second place finish in the 500 yard freestyle (4:59.60) right behind teammate Romanov.
For the third year Charles Lampasso has been voted by his fellow peers in the conference as the coach of the year. In his fifth year as the Bearcats’ head coach, Lampasso has led his team to win the CUNYAC Championships for the third consecutive year. He has also lead his team to undefeated regular seasons and on the women’s side set a new record of the most wins in the regular season.
“It is such a compliment to receive this award from the coaches in the conference,” said Lampasso. “I also want to thank my assistant coaches who worked very hard this year with our swimmers and continue to make the team successful.”
The Lightning’s Head Coach Peter Kiernan spoke about his freshman swimmer receiving the sportsmanship award by saying, "Chris Polanco exemplified good sportsmanship by sacrificing his personal interests for the good of his team and teammates.” Kiernan continued to state, “as a backstroker on a team with two very goods backstrokers, Abel Dupres and Ramon Peralta, Chris responded to our need for a breaststroker and filled in admirably on our relays and in dual meets. Always level headed and positive when dealing with teammates and opponents, he has everyone's respect, our coaches, our athletes, officials, and opponents."
2012 CUNYAC Men’s Swimming & Diving All-Stars
Men’s Athlete of the Year: Vladislav Romanov, Staten Island - 500yd Freestyle, 400yd Medley Relay, 200yd Medley Relay, 100yd Backstroke, 800yd Freestyle Relay, 200yd Backstroke, 400yd Freestyle Relay
Men’s Rookie of the Year: Timur Rakhimov, Staten Island - 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 500yd Freestyle, 400yd Medley Relay, 200yd Medley Relay, 100yd Breaststroke, 800yd Freestyle Relay, 200yd Breaststroke
Men’s Coach of the Year: Charlie Lampasso, Baruch
Men’s Sportsmanship: Chris Polanco, Lehman
All-Stars
Yury Zimarev, CSI – 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 50yd Freestyle, 400yd Medley Relay, 200yd Medley Relay, 100yd Butterfly, 200yd Butterfly, 400yd Freestyle Relay
Andrey Tarasov, CSI –200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 200yd IM, 200yd Medley Relay, 400yd IM, 800yd Freestyle Relay, 1650yd Freestyle, 400yd Freestyle Relay
Danila Novikov, CSI –200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 400yd Medley Relay, 200yd Freestyle, 800yd Freestyle Relay, 100yd Freestyle, 200yd Butterfly, 400yd Freestyle Relay
John Pignatelli, CSI – 1 meter diving, 3 meter diving
Kenny Kim, Baruch –200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 400yd Medley Relay, 50yd Freestyle, 800yd Freestyle Relay, 400yd Freestyle Relay
Chudchane Sangtippawan, Baruch – 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 400yd Medley Relay, 200yd Medley Relay, 100yd Breaststroke, 400yd Freestyle Relay
James Chang, Baruch – 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 400yd Medley Relay, 200yd Medley Relay, 400yd Freestyle Relay
Ryan Flynn, Baruch - 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 200yd Medley Relay, 800yd Freestyle Relay, 400yd Freestyle Relay
George Martinez, Baruch - 800yd Freestyle Relay, 1650yd Freestyle
Gabriel Yanez, Baruch - 400yd Medley Relay, 200yd Medley Relay, 400yd IM, 800yd Freestyle Relay
Jeffrey Wong, Baruch – 100yd Breaststroke
Abel Dupres, Lehman – 200yd IM, 100yd Butterfly, 200yd Backstroke
Victor Pren, Lehman – 1 meter diving
Ivan Srdanovic, Lehman - 100yd Butterfly, 100yd Freestyle
Ramon Peralta, Lehman - 100yd Backstroke
