Smell ya later, sports section!

On my college search, St. Bonaventure wasn’t even on the radar until I was on my way to my second visit to Ithaca College to confirm that it was the school for me. However, upon visiting Bonaventure, I fell in love with the small-campus atmosphere and was impressed by the outstanding journalism program. The school also had one feature Ithaca wasn’t able to offer: a Division I athletics program.
Those things hammered home that Bona’s was the college for me, although I don’t think I would have guessed how all three things that made me pick St. Bonaventure would shape my life so much.
First, I joined the running club but was approached by cross country coach Bob Macfarlane about joining the Division I cross country team, which would be adding track during the next school year. Despite not running competitively in high school, I jumped at the opportunity.
Two years, multiple injuries and ensuing recovery periods and a hell of a lot of work, and I’m seeing where my efforts are going. This track season I’ve ran personal record times in the 3,000 meters in back-to-back races. Going into the first race, my goal time was 10:30, and while I thought I had a chance of hitting it, I would be happy going under 11 minutes.
I ran a 10:23. Then two days later, I clocked a 10:07. My coach came up to me after and said, “Did you ever expect to…?” and I said, “Whatever you’re about to say, I didn’t.”
I’m incredibly goal-oriented, and my entire goal for this season has been to break 18 minutes in the 5,000 meters, but at this rate, I could potentially even go under 17 minutes.
The small-campus atmosphere has provided me a ton of opportunities that I wouldn’t have gotten at larger schools like Ithaca. In the past three years, I’ve joined a Division I team, been a resident assistant, traveled to Dallas to cover an NCAA tournament game, been on the orientation team and helped to develop two apps.
Another opportunity was joining The Bona Venture.
While I had signed up my first semester, I never ended up writing until the second semester, when I wanted to get more involved.
From there, the rest is history. I still remember (although I wish I didn’t) the first article I was assigned. I turned in my questions and answers to the sports editor without writing a story. I quickly learned though, and I continued to get better. It’s here I’d like to extend my first two thank you’s: Kono and Ethan Kibbe.
Kono, or Nick Konotopskj, was my first sports editor, the person who helped me get my foot in the door at the BV and also a teammate on cross country. Kibbe, your thank you is for absolutely tearing apart one of my stories and forcing me to remove anything opinionated, which, while it was upsetting and annoying at the time, immensely improved my writing abilities.
Next, Jon Sawyer and Mike DeSanto, the next two sports editors I worked under. Now that I’ve been in your position for an entire semester, I have a lot more respect for you guys and the work that goes into this position.
This semester, my thank yous go out to Liam McGurl, Christina Root, Emily Losito and the rest of the staff that has dealt with my endless jokes and vine references and for making RC 5 constantly smell like pizza.
To Jeremy Castro, you’ve been the ying to my yang as an assignment editor. You were there when I went to Dallas and did all two pages by yourself, then you saved the day the next week when I was dying of strep throat. You were always there with a level head when my photo slugs got a little inappropriate and could always pitch in a clever headline. You’ve got some fast shoes to fill as I move onwards; good thing your feet are bigger than mine.
Finally, I couldn’t forget Kiley O’Donnell. We bonded instantly that first week you transferred, and it’s been an incredible friendship since. Last semester working as your assignment editor was so much fun, and I know you’ll do some incredible things next semester as you take on the role of Editor-in-Chief. Sorry for being so stingy with sharing my pizza, but I will always save some crust for you to eat.
And that’s it for me! Actually, not so fast, because I’m not out of your hair yet. Next semester, I’m taking my talents a couple pages forward and changing my title to Opinions Editor. I’m sad to leave my beloved sports section where I’ve worked for five semesters, but I’m excited by this new venture. See you all again in the fall!