By Pat Tintle
Staff Writer
After capturing a second consecutive Atlantic 10 championship (winning by a substantial 94 points), the Bonnies are not letting their latest success affect how the program is run in the future, according to Head Coach Sean McNamee.
“It panned out pretty well,” McNamee said, referring to the recent championship. “We repeated in pretty grand fashion. All in all, it was an unconventional season that ended in the most positive way possible.”
Being the best team in the conference, especially two years in a row, will put an added spotlight on the program for future swimmers looking to join a competitive and highly respected team.
The program is looking to take advantage of the unique opportunity, according to McNamee.
“It does create additional interest, especially with recruiting,” McNamee said. “Recruiting is going to be easier with something that has been repetitive. We’ll definitely get more attention from kids who may have been marginally thinking about us as a possibility.”
McNamee, who was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for the sixth time (and capturing his fifth A-10 championship), credits the program’s success largely to the structure of the team’s practices. Unlike most other Division I teams, the Bonnies work with raw grit during straight-forward, demanding workouts, according to McNamee.
“We have a very blue-collar work ethic in getting it done in extreme means in a sub-par facility, and (we’re) not using that as an excuse,” McNamee said. “We don’t have a lot of proprieties. You look at our facility. It’s one of the tougher facilities that you’re going to see in any of the pools that we go to.”
The Bonnies do not have the typical practice area, which many other Atlantic 10 schools are supplied with, according to McNamee.
“We’re hallway rats,” McNamee said. “During dry lands, we don’t even have a space to workout in. We’re out in the hallways running around, throwing med-balls off walls, jump roping, knocking lights out of the ceiling. We don’t have the amenities of a lot of large schools, but we don’t let that hold us back. “
In order to take back-to-back championships, teammates needed to help each other for the ability to surpass expectations, according to senior Mike Burud.
“Everybody kind of bust their hump all year to get back to the A-10s,” Burud said. “We’re all really happy to see that hard work pays off.”
Not only did the Bonnies feel the pressure from individual goals, but the team also had to cope with the heat and expectation of defending their title.
“The most pressure was from the beginning of the year,” senior Dave Paccapaniccia said.
“That was just workout after workout. After people started getting off that high, it was just easier to stay focused. Then, repeat wasn’t even on my mind. It was like last year didn’t even happen. We were going in with a clean slate and we wanted to pick up where we ended it last year.”
But with meeting expectations for a second year in a row, McNamee spoke with a prideful tone when reflecting on the past season.
“This one put last year to sleep,” McNamee said.
tintleph11@bonaventure.edu
