By Emily Mulcahey
Staff Writer
They rise well before the sun most mornings and wake themselves up with a short trip through the frigid air and a physically intensive training session. While the rest of the students around them get a five-week Christmas break, theirs is only three. Their course work is the same, but their training hours are much longer than the average students’ 3 p.m. workout at the Richter Center. However, they do it all with one goal in mind; – the one that will make it all worth it: The Atlantic 10 Tournament.
These students are the ones who make up the St. Bonaventure swim teams.
Last week, the men’s team crushed Binghamton in its meet, with a score of 147.5 to Binghamton’s 88.5, only further proving that its rigorous training has put it on the right track.
“It was nice just to get racing again seeing that the last meet for the entire team was prior to Thanksgiving,” men’s team coach Sean McNamee said, “Training intensity is one of the best that I have seen in my time.”
Last week’s defeat of Binghamton was exactly the kind of confidence boost that will prepare the men’s team for the quickly approaching A-10 Tournament. Not only did the men’s team make a lasting mark on the Binghamton scoreboard, it also highlighted some of its talent in the individual events.
“Mike White was recognized for his 400 IM swim with “Swim of the Meet,” and Ben Galinski was recognized as ‘Swimmer of the Meet’ for his two-seasons best that he had,” McNamee said. “He also won the 500 free. Junior Mike Pilyugin won two individual events and was on a winning relay. Matt Rochna, Ripley Danner, senior Vatslav Lets also won individual events.”
For yet another year, the team has proved to be a top contender in the league.
While the women’s team has also had an excellent season, it fell just short of Binghamton with a score of 116 to Binghamton’s 121.
“We didn’t have our diver, which could’ve easily made up the difference, maybe a couple better performances in some individual events. If we would’ve taken the diving out entirely, we would’ve won the meet, but unfortunately, that’s not how you score it. Overall, I was really happy with how the meet went, they swam really well,” Coach Krista Carlson said.
While the score reflects the team as a whole, the women’s team also had some stand-out individual performances against Binghamton, helping it keep the score close.
“Tanja Kirmse had a great meet; she won all 3 of her events,” Carlson commented. Our seniors across the board really did well. Adelyn Graf won the 200 backstroke, Rachel Bull won the 200 free.”
As it approaches the last meets of the season, the team can’t help but feel excited for its chance at another round of the A-10s this year.
“The main goal at this meet was that I just wanted to see them race and not give up, because at the A-10s, that’s what you have to do,” Carlson said, “so the takeaway from this meet is that we just have to bring it from the start, we can’t wait until the end to get things going. It’s got to be from the moment you dive in.”
Both the men’s and women’s swim teams have only two regular season meets left, and then all minds will be set on the A-10 tournament, where each team has more than earned a spot.
mulcahek12@bonaventure.edu
