By Gavin Lindahl
Sports Assignment Editor
With its season having come to an end, the men’s swimming team may be satisfied with its strong performance at the Atlantic 10 championship last weekend despite coming up short of its third consecutive title. However, it is time to take stock of what will be lost going forward for next season.
Leaving the team will be seniors Ripley Danner, Nathan Earl, Matthew Rochna and, center-piece performer, Vatslav Lets.
Lets, a native of Novosbirsk, Russia, was introduced to the sport to complete the dream of his father, Andrey, roughly 15 years ago.
“My dad couldn’t swim as a child, so it always has been his dream for me to become a swimmer. At the age of 6, I started competing – and that’s how it all started,” Lets said.
Ten years later, Lets found himself in a different country. It was not the place, however, where Lets would break records and lead a small private university to two conference championships. That chain of events would soon be set in motion, though.
“When I was 15, my family moved to Germany. I didn’t really like it there, so I had an agent that finds colleges for European athletes go to the United States [for me],” Lets said. “Right after my first conversation with Coach Sean MacNamee, I knew that St. Bonaventure would be my choice. It worked out perfectly [for me] because I was planning on majoring in finance and Bona’s happens to have a great program for that.”
Lets quickly found success at Bona’s. In his freshmen season, Lets competed in four of the top relays during the Atlantic 10 Championships, including the 400-yard freestyle medley relay, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 800-yard freestyle relay. He earned top times with 45.50 in the 100-yard freestyle, 1:37.59 in the 200-yard freestyle, 4:24.74 in the 500-yard freestyle and 1:46.97 in the 200-yard backstroke. Lets received a gold medal for his 500-yard freestyle, which broke the conference record for the event. At the end of it all, Lets’ freshman performance earned him A-10 rookie of the year honors.
Lets’ rookie performance set the benchmark for his remaining three seasons. In his sophomore season¸ Lets completed seven first place finishes, breaking the previous record at the Atlantic 10 Championship and earning him the A-10 Most Outstanding Performer Award. The following season, Lets finished first in the 400-yard and 200-yard relay, setting record times of 3:14.43 and 1:28.74 for the A-10.
Wrapping a successful career as a Bonnies, Lets believes that most of his success came from team cohesion and a focused, competitive mindset.
“I personally was focusing on the correlation of my lifestyle to my swimming; my diet, my sleeping schedule and mental preparation, [they] all played a huge role,” said Lets. “Our team goal has been to become a better team as a unit, and even though it’s an individual sport, we try to be as tight and accountable as possible.”
The departure of swimmers like Lets surely will not be overlooked.
