By Harrison Leone
Assistant Sports Editor
With less than a month to go until they compete for Atlantic 10 championships, the women’s swimming and diving team will host Niagara tonight at 6 before traveling to Buffalo Feb. 2 in their final two dual meets of the year.
The Niagara meet will mark the second consecutive home meet for the Bonnies. The Purple Eagles are coming off two straight dual-meet losses to Buffalo and Canisius.
“We’ll be using people in some events that may not make for our best lineups, but right now we need some swimmers to get experience for certain events in preparations for the A-10s,” Coach Seth Johnson said. “In that sense this may not be your typical dual meet.”
This past weekend saw SBU win a home meet against Binghamton, 145.5-96.5, in its first competition of the semester. The team received a plethora of first place finishes from its swimmers. Among the competitors coming in first in individual events were freshmen Erin Cervone, Adelyn Graf and Sarah Baker, who won the 1000-yard freestyle, the 200-yard backstroke and the 1 meter dive, respectively.
In the 400 freestyle relay, the team of junior Jeanette Dietrich — one of the Bonnies’ four upperclassmen— freshman Taylor Anderson, sophomore Rachel Bull and freshman Sierra Wilkinson took first place with a time of 3:40.97.
“I think the team swam very well,” Wilkinson said. “We listened to coach and trained very hard over break and you can see the results of that hard work now.”
Coach Johnson had a positive impression of the Binghamton meet.
“I was pleased with how we swam,” Johnson said. “Beating Binghamton in a dual meet is something that hasn’t been done, at least since anyone on the team or I have been here. It’s always good to win these meets, but they really count for nothing if you don’t show up at the A-10s.”
Winter break, when most students are enjoying a whole month of unwinding from the fall semester, was cut short for the women as they went on a 10-day training trip to Florida before the start of the spring semester.
“It was a solid trip,” Johnson said. “Every day consisted of two 2-hour swims, as well as lifting and dry land work every day. The girls all trained really well, as this was sort of our last major push, training wise.”
Sierra Wilkinson enjoyed the down time offered by the break.
“The break was definitely nice,” Wilkinson added. ”It was nice to be able to sleep in and maybe miss a practice if you were really drained. Now, at this point in the season, we really can’t afford to cut any corners.”
Wilkinson said she was optimistic about her young team’s prospects at the A-10 championships.
“I think we’ll do a lot better than we usually do,” she said. “We have a lot of talented people on our team this year.”
The Binghamton meet marked the first time St. Bonaventure swam in the Reilly Center since Nov. 10 of last year, when Cleveland State bested the Bonnies 132-99. Johnson admitted swimming at home has benefits for the team too.
“It’s nice to be able to spend a few days at home to start the year,” Johnson said. “Frankly, I think it gets them off to a better start academically, too, with things being a little more constant. Right now I’d say we’re happy with where we are, but business isn’t finished, yet.”
