The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams finished their regular seasons over the winter break and participated in the CUNY Athletic Conference Championships on Jan. 28 to Jan. 30 at Lehman College.

The men won the CUNYAC Championship, their fourth-straight title, earning 341 points throughout the weekend. Dayan Ordabayev won MVP.

Lehman finished in second place with 128 points and Brooklyn College finished third.

The women placed second behind champion Hunter College, their second-consecutive title. The Bearcats earned 184 points to Hunter’s 298 and John Jay finished third with 117 points.

On day one, Ordabayev’s team, Youssef Elkhouly, Eli Meron and Gary Danilyan, completed the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay in 1 minute, 27.70 seconds, setting a new championship record.

Events for session two were postponed due to the weather and took place on Jan 30 before session three.

Both teams faced significant schedule disruptions after meets against Brooklyn, Lehman and John Jay for the women were postponed and the meet against York was canceled.

The women’s first meet in almost a month was against Hunter and the first home event at the Arc Aquatic Center in almost two years. It would also be the team’s only loss of the season, 60125. Aanya Shukul set a freshman record in the women’s 800 marathon with a time of 10:23.14, while also winning in the 400-yard freestyle with a time of 5:05.27.

This next meet against Sarah Lawrence College provided the women the opportunity to rebound following their loss and the men their first competition since the extended break. The Bearcats rose to the occasion, with several swimmers breaking school records.

Amanda Lee broke the women’s 50-yard breaststroke record with a 39.86, along with the women’s 100-yard individual medley with a 1:21.82. Katherine Lee achieved a new school record in the 50-yard butterfly with a 34.36.

Along with a new 100-yard freestyle freshman record by Aanya Shukul with a 1:04.66, the team slightly edged the Gryphons 103-98. During this stretch Amanda Lee was named the CUNY Swimmer of the Week for the first time this season. Shukul was named CUNY Rookie of the Week, her second time winning the award.

The men dominated the Gryphons 155-63 with seven records broken during the meet. Elkhouly set four new freshman records by finishing the men’s 50-yard backstroke in 32.43, the 50-yard butterfly in 27.58 and the 200-yard butterfly in 2:26.39.

He also set a pair of school records in the 50-yard butterfly by completing it in 27.58 and the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:02.06. Ordabayev set a new 50-yard backstroke school record with a time of 32.43.

These achievements would earn Elkhouly the Rookie of the Week and Ordabayev the Swimmer of the Week award, both their first.

The victories continued against Lehman with the women’s team winning 86-51. The men also dominated, winning 92-35.

In the men’s final meet of the regular season against Brooklyn, Elkhouly set a freshman record in the men’s 400 yard freestyle with a time of 4:30.96 to lead the team to a 115-43 victory and regular-season record of 6-1, 2-0 CUNYAC. Shukul again set new freshman records in the women’s 50-yard freestyle against Brooklyn with a time of 29.36 in a 97-59 win.

In a women’s only meet against John Jay, Shukul set a new women’s 400-yard freestyle record with a 29.36. Joyce Wong set a new record in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 37.89. The 100-61 victory capped their regular season at 5-5, 3-1 CUNY Athletic Conference.

Both teams were named to the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Associate of America Scholar All-America Team List for the fifth-straight year.

Both teams will participate in the Metro Conference Finals at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Feb. 18 to Feb. 20, followed by the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland on Feb. 25 to Feb. 27.