By Zachary Waltz
Staff Writer
The men’s swimming and diving team captured its first Atlantic 10 Championship in seven years two weekends ago in Geneva, Ohio. Head Coach Sean McNamee said that the team worked hard this year and deserved to win the coveted championship after beating out the Bonnies’ rival University of Massachusetts by 74.5 points with a total of 688.
The women did not fare as well at A-10s as their male counterparts, coming in 8th place. The team tallied a score of 215 during the event. Richmond University took home the gold, scoring 737 points. Swimming well for the Bonnies were freshmen Adeyln Graf and Shannon Haberman, who finished in fifth and ninth place respectively.
“The goals we speak of over the entire year are geared on those three and a half days,” McNamee said. “To have them go the way they did is our ultimate goal. It’s these guys’ Super Bowl, and it’s my goal each year to have these guys experience something that they’re going to be able to cherish forever. The rivalry between us and UMass is a healthy one because they push us to be able to accomplish big things, and we return the favor. I know that they’re extremely motivated to win the title next year.”
After the Championships, McNamee was named the A-10 Coach of the Year. Joining McNamee in receiving honors, head diving Coach Stephanie O’Callaghan was named Diving Coach of the Year.
O’Callaghan said that senior diver Michael Murphy was key in the success of the diving program this year.
“Michael is a senior, and the rest of the divers are freshmen, so he had an impact not just on the boards, but also with leadership and teaching the others to be good divers,” O’Callaghan said. “He was a consistent base to go to. His diving in the meet was important because it’s another event that he scored big while on the boards.”
Murphy was named the A-10 Most Outstanding Diver after his performance, winning both diving events for the Bonnies. He said it was great to finally win an A-10 title after losing to UMass three years in a row.
“Coming in second place for three years in a row was obviously not the way that we had hoped it would be,” Murphy said. “For us to come out on my senior year with 19 kids on the team and come together mentally and physically and perform at an elite level, it’s pretty amazing. People doubted us and no one thought we could do it, but it was incredible to watch all the boys go out and try to win.”
Sophomore Vatslav Lets was named as the A-10’s Most Outstanding Performer. Lets set an A-10 record by winning eight gold medals, breaking the previous record of six. Lets said it was amazing to finally see all their hard work pay off once the team finally won the title but said it’s time to start training for next year with a target on their backs.
“It was really hard to believe by the end of the meet that we had made it,” Lets said. “It was really fun to see how everyone comes together and does what he needs to do to reach our goal. This year was about changing the culture of the team and stop being losers. We finally made it, and now it’s about staying there.”
