By Joel Jackson
Contributing Writer
As the St. Bonaventure women’s swimming and diving team prepares for its first meet against Atlantic 10 competition, Coach Seth Johnson said he is thinking long term.
“In swimming, we’re always going to be long term,” Johnson said. “Our goals are always around A-10 championships at the end of the year.”
St. Bonaventure will face A 10 rivals Duquesne and La Salle at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio tomorrow.
The Bonnies will look to use this opportunity to prepare for the A-10 Championships.
“We are swimming at our championship pool, so we want to use this as a good experience, especially for our young kids, to have a chance to swim in their championship pool before we actually get there for the real thing,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he hopes this meet will help the team develop confidence as they familiarize themselves with A-10 competition.
“It does build confidence when you are swimming with people that you know you are going to swim with at the end of the year,” Johnson said. “We want to be a little bit sharper than we normally are for a regular dual meet, but we’re not resting for it or focusing on it too much.”
The Bonnies will have to overcome fatigue and injuries going into this weekend’s contest. Johnson says it will be a test of the team’s mental toughness.
“Everyone during this time of the year is going to be sore and tired,” Johnson said. “It’s being mentally tough and being able to overcome that, knowing that we are swimming in a fast pool. We swam well at this meet last year, even though we didn’t feel 100 percent going into it. We’re going to have to have some people step up. We have a few injuries. We have a few tweaks here and there. We’re going to see who can fill those spots and overcome that.”
This meet presents some major challenges for the team as they will be leaving the morning of the meet rather than getting in the night before. The first session is at 10 a.m. while the second starts at 3 p.m., so the swimmers will have a long day with little time to rest. Johnson said it’s a good test for the swimmers.
“It’s a marathon session, so it’s tough mentally to be able to be sharp for that long and it’s not ideal,” Johnson said. “We’re not going up the day before, and it’s kind of adverse conditions. It’s a good measuring stick to not just see how you are physically but how you are mentally as well. That’s a big part of what the spot’s all about, so that’s why we kind of do it this way.”
Even though this meet isn’t about results, Johnson said there is a little bit of extra motivation going up against A-10 competition.
“These are our only A-10 meets of the year, so there is always a little extra incentive against La Salle and Duquesne,” Johnson said. “We beat them both at this meet last year, so obviously they are going to be gunning for us this year.”
