The Lehman College women's swimming and diving team (1-4 Overall, 1-0 CUNYAC) picked up their first victory on the 2009-2010 season as the Lightning defeated the John Jay College Bloodhounds (1-2 Overall, 1-2 CUNYAC) by a score of 53-42. The Lightning were able to run off seven consecutive first place finishes to hold off a determined Bloodhounds unit.

Although the upperclassmen such as Luisa Garcia, Yudelka Espinal, and Basilisa Alonso each won three events on the evening, the victory was realized by the efforts of the second line swimmers who out swam the coaching staff's expectations.

Of particular note was standout Nadia Alie, who for the fourth meet this season dropped time in the 100 Breaststroke event, completing that at 1:26.55. In addition, Tanaka Nyemba continued to close in on the seven minute barrier in the 500 as she recorded a personal-best time of 7:07.09. Jessica Drenzyk dropped over six seconds in the 100 Fly as she finished that event in 1:29.45. Adriana Navarrete completed the 100-yard Backstroke in 1:27.62, and Sylvia Churchill shaved off 26 seconds in the 1000 Freestyle as she finished that event in a time of 16:34.91.

Going into the final event of the day, the 4x50 Freestyle Relay, John Jay had pulled to within four points of the Lightning at 46-42.  In John Jay's home pool, with only four lanes eligible for scoring, it was winner take all, with seven points awarded for a first place finish, and no points give for the second place finisher. Lehman would win that event, and in essence, would win the meet.

Head Coach Peter Kiernan and his coaching staff had high expectations going into the meet and the women exceeded all of them. Following the meet, coach Kiernan gave his thoughts on the effort the women put forth.

“I'm very proud of the way the women competed in each race as every swimmer recorded at least one personal best time or won an event,” Kiernan said. “We still have work to do but if we continue like this, we'll challenge any team we face in the conference and give them a run for their money. We just need to continue to work hard.”

The Lightning will now have plenty of time off before their next meet which will be on Thursday evening, December 3rd, as Lehman will take to the road to battle SUNY Maritime in a non-conference meet, with start time scheduled for 6:00pm.