By Matt Petit, Contributing Writer
The St. Bonaventure men’s swim team will compete in its first home meet of the season against Canisius College tomorrow, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. Diving will begin at 10 a.m.
Prior to this upcoming meet, the Bonnies had some strong freshmen performances on the team.
Ethan Carr, a freshman accounting major from Alburtis, Pennsylvania, has had a strong showing in the mid-distance and distance freestyle events early in the Bonnies’ season. He sported a time of 4:55.43 in the 500-yard free and 10:20.35 in the 1000-yard free.
Tjaard Krusch, a freshman sports studies major from Dorsheim, Germany, and Maciej Danilewski, a freshman management major from Bialystok, Poland, have both begun to grow into their roles as backstrokers. Krusch has posted a 100-yard back time of 52.42 and 1:54.75 in his 200-yard backstroke. Danilewski clocked in with a 52.58 in the 100 backstroke and a 1:53.24 for the 200 backstroke, also strong times to have pre-taper.
However, head coach Sean McNamee said even with the freshman class’ recent success,Canisius may pose a threat to the Bonnies.
“This one could be really competitive,” said McNamee. “Canisius has got a really nice team, and they’ve had pokes at us in the past and haven’t been able to get us, but they’ve come really close.”
Carr said the meet on Saturday will take a reasonable amount of mental strength in order to overcome the strenuous work the team has been grinding through.
“We still all have to be mentally tough,” said Carr. “Everyone is sore and hurting.”
However, lack of rest is no foreign concept to most of these high-caliber athletes. McNamee said that, much like the previous seasons, the Bonnies will swim through most of their dual meets without much concern for rest. The one exception will be the day before Thanksgiving break.
“We won’t rest heavy,” said McNamee. “Really the only practice that we take off is the Thursday morning lift before we leave.”
Overall, McNamee said that although this is the team’s first home meet of the season, its approach will be the same as any other.
“We kind of approach them all with the same kind of tenant,” said McNamee.
This sentiment was echoed by Carr, who also shows an enthusiasm that all collegiate athletes can share. He expressed his relief because there’s no travel time required for home events.
“Swimming in this pool everyday has made us very familiar with it,” said Carr. “Also, we don’t have to spend hours in a bus.”
This sort of excitement is fleeting, however, as the Bonnies face a tough schedule, only having two home meets this year. Another concern that Coach McNamee expressed was the amount of work that is necessary for orienting new-comers on the team, especially ones with talent.
“Well, it’s kind of a balancing act, freshman year,” said McNamee. “I kind of consider it a wildcard year. You never know what you’re going to get.”
Hopefully, the Bonnies will get the most out of their youngest swimmers this year, as they try to fill holes in certain events left vacant by the graduating class. Some roles may prove to be difficult to fill as last year’s class graduated Mike White, a top A10 finisher, as well as Matt Goettler, another scorer for the Bonnies at A10s last season.
McNamee also provided us with a key factor in getting the most from the freshman class this season.
“In order for us to have success this year, we’re going to have to have them mature much quicker than an average class can as far as handling the challenges, moving through things and the adjustments that are necessary,” said McNamee. “So, a little more is probably expected of them.”
