By Joel Jackson
Contributing Writer
There is always a little bit more intensity when St. Bonaventure competes with Canisius, even when it comes to swimming. “Everyone knows the long history that St. Bonaventure has with Canisius in all sports, and they know when we play them in basketball, they get more ready for us than anyone else,” Coach Seth Johnson said. The same carries over into other sports including ours. It’s a rivalry, so they will be ready for us”
The women’s swimming team will look to rebound from last week’s loss at Cleveland State as they get ready to take on Little Three rival Canisius at home in the Reilly Center pool Saturday, Nov. 16.
Saturday is senior day for the Bonnies, which gives the team greater incentive to have a good performance in their last dual meet before their mid-season invitationals.
“This is our senior meet, so obviously we want to get a win for our seniors and send them off,” Johnson said. “It’s not our last home dual meet, but we want to make sure parents can get back and everything. So we want to get a win this weekend and send them off right.”
Johnson said he knows the Bonnies have familiarity swimming at their home pool, and they need to use that to their advantage.
“Our advantage is we’re at home,” Johnson said. “We always swim well at home. We need to take advantage of our unique blocks and unique situation that sometimes opposing teams don’t adapt to as well.”
Johnson wants his team to close out the meet early, not allowing Canisius any opportunity to steal the competition.
“Relays are always important because they are worth more points,” Johnson said. “If we can be strong in relays, we have a good chance to win. We have to end the meet early. If you let teams hang around anything can happen.”
Looking ahead to the Atlantic 10 championship, Johnson said he is pleased with the team’s progress at this point in the season.
“Our training is a little more intense than it has been in years past,” Johnson said. “Taking that into account, we’re right where we need to be and happy with where we are and how we’re swimming.”
