This past Thursday evening, the Lehman College men's and women's swimming and diving squads returned to action as the Lightning traveled to Pleasantville, NY to battle the Pace University Setters in non-conference action. Lehman's men's squad (1-1 Overall, 0-0 CUNYAC) picked up its first victory of the season by downing the Setters 135-89, and the Lightning women (0-2 Overall, 0-0 CUNYAC) dropped its meet to Pace by a score of 147-72.
In the victory for the Lehman men, the Lightning's depth proved to be too much for a talented Pace University squad. The strong performances from the freshmen on the squad, compiled with the terrific contributions of the divers, helped Lehman nail down its first win of the season. Freshman Marc Alan Lee finished first in the 1000 yard-freestyle with a time of 11:19.49, while fellow freshman Ivan Srdanovic completed the 200 yard-freestyle with a time of 1:56.54. Shqiprim Shala finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:05.22, and Chris Mammano came in second place in both the 100 butterfly and 500-yard freestyle events.
As for the women's squad, the young squad put forth a valiant effort but the Setters were able to take the lead over the Lightning early, and Pace University would never look back. Despite the loss for Lehman College, Yudelka Espinal established a new school record in the 100-yard freestyle, breaking the time that she set at last year's CUNYAC championships by finishing the event in 1:02.63. She also led off the 4x100 freestyle relay in the evening's final event.
Following the meet, Lehman College head coach Peter Kiernan gave his thoughts on his teams' performances.
“On the men's side, our younger swimmers, as well as our divers, truly stole the show,” Kiernan said. “The men are on the right track and I'm extremely proud of the performance they put forth against the setters. As for the women – they put forth a spirited effort, as we established many personal-best times. Our women's squad is very new, and it's a work in progress, but I'm encouraged by what I've seen from them so far.”
The Lehman College men's and women's swimming and diving teams will return to the water on Tuesday evening as the squads welcome Adelphi University into the APEX Aquatics Center for non-conference competition. Meet time is scheduled for 6:30pm.
