By Mikael DeSanto
Sports Assignment Editor
St. Bonaventure University women’s swimming and diving team member Devon McFadden, a junior, has won 10 events so far this season.
Through four meets this year, McFadden has picked up wins in the 100-yard backstroke three times, 200-yard individual medley twice, the 200-yard medley relay twice, the 100- and 400-yard individual medleys and the 20-yard backstroke.
“I’ve been training right, so I’ve been training specifically toward those events, a lot more than I used to at least,” McFadden said. “I’ve also been around awhile, so I think my first two years [were] more on an adjustment and now that I’m on my halfway marker, I’m definitely starting to understand a lot better and be better prepared for meets.”
Brian Thomas, the head coach of the women’s swimming and diving team, said McFadden is different than many other athletes around today.
“Devon is a very unique athlete for 2016 in that she really does most of her speaking with her actions,” Thomas said. “I think that her teammates certainly pick up on that. She is a captain, and she was voted a captain for a reason. It was evident early on that she is not afraid to work hard, which is fantastic, and I think that at the level we are trying to achieve, that is job number one.”
McFadden said that since she started swimming in college, things have changed for her and her approach.
“Just starting college swimming was a huge change, so I think freshman year, for any freshman, it is going to be overwhelming at first,” McFadden said. “Last year I started to get a lot more comfortable, a lot better, and this year something just clicked and I am really starting to get it. I really like our whole team and how we train. Something just snapped for me, and now it is much more comfortable.”
Thomas said there are facets of swimming which McFadden needs to work on and continue developing to remain successful.
“Her front-end speed on her backstroke is an area where she needs to get better if she is going to compete at a really high level,” Thomas said. “With Devon, we are just hitting the tip of the iceberg with what she is capable of doing. But I think that is one area where we want to improve, the ability to make change. You have to have the ability to make change in your strokes and your race approach. Her underwater work is very much a work in progress and an area where she needs to get better pretty quickly, I think.”
Though she still must improve upon certain areas, McFadden has already done work to improve as the season goes forward.
“We’re pushing it a lot in practice,” McFadden said. “Three days a week I just come in and just work on underwaters. Our coach knows what he is doing, so he is definitely taking what we need to work on and making it our main focus.”
McFadden said that of all of the events she swims for the team, one remains her favorite.
“The 100 back: I love it,” McFadden said. “Ever since high school I [have] just loved the 100 back. I think it is very intense [and] that is the event I am most excited to swim.”
McFadden and the team hit the water again this weekend for the Atlantic 10 Quad Meet at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, beginning 11 a.m., Saturday.
desantmj13@bonaventure.edu
