By Mikael Desanto
Staff Writer
The seniors of the St. Bonaventure University men’s swimming and diving team are at the end of their careers. The seniors have spent the last four years of their lives as members of the team and have experienced a lot.
Senior Thomas Caulfield reflected on his final season and knows that it won’t be the same for him when he is no longer on the team.
“I will truly miss the 5 a.m. mornings where your body is so broken down that you are clueless how you are going to get through it and most importantly my brothers who were right next to me the whole time helping push through it,” Caulfield said.
In his junior year, Caulfield finished in 17th place in the 1650-yard freestyle in the A10 championship meet.
As senior Matthew Schutt looked back on his time in the program, he sees how he has changed due to his past experiences.
“The best way I can put it is in the words of my coach: ‘the program is designed to take you in as a boy and leave you as a man who has the mentality that he can do anything,” Schutt said.
Schutt came in 13th place in the 200-yard breaststroke at last year’s A10 meet.
Senior Gregg Byrne said he knows how he wants his career to finish and wants to have no regrets when he is done.
Byrne finished in 16th in the 1650-yard freestyle for the Bonnies at A10’s last year.
“I want to end it knowing I couldn’t have done anything different,” Byrne said. “I don’t want to look back in a couple of years and think ‘what if.’ “
Alex Marra, the only senior diver, has learned that “becoming a leader” is an important thing for a senior to do.
“As you get through the three years, you learn from all the seniors who were ahead of you and how to lead,” Marra said.
Last year at A10’s, Marra finished first overall in the 1-meter dive, second overall in the 3-meter dive, and won the A10 Most Outstanding Diver award for the meet.
The Bonnies will swim their final meet before the conference championships at home on Feb. 5 against the State University of New York at Buffalo Bulls at 4 p.m. The Atlantic 10 Championships will take place on February 17 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the Spire Institue in Geneva, Ohio.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
