By Mikael DeSanto
Staff Writer
The St. Bonaventure University men’s swimming and diving team returned to competition last Saturday, beating the University of Binghamton Bearcats 166.5 to 121.5. The team had previously not competed since the Akron Invitational in December.
The Bonnies picked up wins in 11 of the 16 events in the meet. Senior Michael Pilyugin won the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke events, as well as a member of the second-place 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. Junior Michael White added two wins of his own, placing first in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard butterfly.
The team also got a two-win performance from junior Preston Schilling, who picked up wins in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events.
“Considering where we are in the season it was encouraging to see some people swimming well,” Schilling said.
Senior diver Alex Marra also won both of his events, the one-meter and three-meter diving events.
“For me it was an experimenting meet. I learned a couple new dives during our training trip and put it to the test against Binghamton,” Marra said. “From it, there were good things and things I still need to work on.”
Schilling also knows that there are things he and the team need to do to improve.
“Individually, my goal is to keep a better mindset while entering the final meets of the season,” Schilling said. “As for the team, I believe unity is key.”
Over winter break the team went on a 10-day training trip to Florida, a trip that both Schilling and Marra see as beneficial.
“At this point, our heads are more focused on A10s than the small duel meets but we use each one to help us improve,” Schilling said. “It has helped us get to the physical condition we need to be in and has allowed us to grow stronger as a team.”
Marra sees how the training has given him the opportunity to improve for the Atlantic 10 Championships in February.
“I’m throwing bigger, harder dives and plan to use them at conference,” Marra said. “Hitting them at conference would dramatically increase my score from last year at this meet.”
The Bonnies will swim next on Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. when they face the Niagara University Purple Eagles in an away meet. Both Schilling and Marra have plans for the meet and know how they want to handle it.
“Just keep training hard and pushing myself both in and out of the water,” Schilling said. “I want to use the meet as a time to make final adjustments to my strokes and race strategies.”
Marra touched on the importance of the transition between training and competition.
“Transferring everything I’ve done in practice to the meet,” Marra said. “A meet is just like a practice. The only difference is you’re against another team.”
Overall Schilling seemed happy with the season and how it has turned out.
“I have been very pleased with how the team has performed this season,” he said. “We have a much closer team this year, which is nice.”
Nearing the end of his final season, Marra reflected on how he has done and the team’s end goal.
“This is the best I’ve done in my life, and I hope the season ends the way we want it to,” Marra said.
The Brown and White’s next, and final, home meet will be Feb. 5 against the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) Bulls. It will also be the team’s final meet before the Atlantic 10 Championships.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
