By Joel Jackson
Staff Writer
The St. Bonaventure women’s swimming and diving team will be competing in their last dual meet before Atlantic 10 Championships this weekend, but the emphasis will not be on winning.
The Bonnies travel to Penn State this Saturday to take on the Nittany Lions.
In fact, Head Coach Seth Johnson said he hopes his swimmers do not swim too fast and save their best swims for the A-10s.
“We know where want to be,” Johnson said. “You don’t want to be too fast this weekend, but you want to be trending in that direction. You want to see some improvement over the last couple of weeks where we’re getting a little bit sharper, but we don’t want to be quite there yet because we’re still going to be two and a half weeks out as of this weekend.”
Johnson is looking to see what kind of minor tweaks may need to be made before championship week.
“It’s good to have a last meet to use as a barometer and see what kind of adjustments we need to make before A-10s,” Johnson said. “So we will go with a straight-forward line up and let kids swim the events that they are going to have to swim at A-10s.”
This time of year can be used to polish up the small things that can make a big difference come A-10s.
“When you get around this time of year, it’s all about improving speed work,” Johnson said. “You have been working hard all year, and when you get into a rest time like we are entering now, speed is kind of the name of the game. When you build up to this point, that’s what needs to come out of this meet. It’s also the little things. You have to tighten up turns and tighten up starts, the little things that make a big difference.”
Sophomore Elizabeth Malone (Fly/IM) is happy about where the team is at this critical point in the season, getting ready for A-10s.
“I think we’re looking real good, definitely better than last year. I’m excited to see what we are going to do as a team,” Malone said.
Keeping the team mentally focused is going to be a big challenge coming down to the end stretch of the season, Johnson said.
“The big thing is the mental aspect to see how having the confidence after all the hard work that you put in this year is going to pay off by having that mental edge going in because the sport can be pretty mental,” said Johnson.
jacksonjj10@bonaventure.edu
