The Lehman College swimming and diving teams returned to action and participated in their home-opening meets earlier this afternoon at the APEX Aquatic Center as the Lightning hosted the Pace University Setters. Lehman's men's squad (2-0 Overall, 0-0 CUNYAC) picked up its second consecutive victory to start the season, downing Pace by a score of 126.5-87.5 while the Lightning women (0-2 Overall, 0-0 CUNYAC) fell by a score of 107-74.

Arriya Rojtinnakorn put forth a solid effort for the Lightning in the victory as he captured the 100 Butterfly event. Luis Arias had another strong meet in the 100 Breaststroke, the 100 Freestyle and the 200 Freestyle, swimming best times in each race. Nick Shala swam strong in the 200 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, and 100 Breaststroke events, and Orlando Urena chipped in with an outstanding effort in holding off teammate Arias in the 100 Freestyle. He was also strong in the 200 IM and 100 Backstroke races as well.  Joaquin Cruz swam tough as well, recording best times in the 50, 100, and 200 Freestyle events.

The distance quartet of Matt DeTiberiis, Jose Toval, Matthew Martinez, and newcomer Ray Rodriguez scored their seasonal best times and are expected to continue their improvement with additional experience. The meet high point winner for the men was diver Johan Lopez, winning the 1-Meter and 3-Meter events over teammate David Turay. Both men performed in mid-season form. Rafael Abreu also opened some eyes with his rapid development on 1-Meter and the expectation of moving up to the 3-Meter competition at the Lehman College's meet.

On the women's side, despite the loss, freshman Basilisa Alonso broke a school record in the 200 IM, beating Luisa Gracia's mark of 2:41.44 with a time of 2:39.50. Establishing personal records in the meet were freshman Jordan Perez in the 200 Freestyle and Junior Kelly Calderon in the 100 Breaststroke. Establishing personal standards in new events were Hyacinth Bouzalakos in the 500 Freestyle and Nadia Alie in the 100 Breaststroke.

Judy Espinal, the team's high point scorer of the meet won the 50 Freestyle and Luisa Garcia and Joanne Gonzalves-Barreiro remain stalwarts, scoring third and fourth highest respectively to Alonso's second.

The Lehman College men's and women's swimming and diving units return to the pool on Thursday evening, November 13, as the squads stay home to host William Paterson University, with meet time scheduled for 7:00pm.