The St. Bonaventure University men’s and women’s swim teams faced off against Atlantic 10 opponents last weekend at the Atlantic 10 Classic for the first time since last season’s conference championships.
The women’s team rose to the occasion, accumulating three victories against the likes of La Salle University, Saint Louis University and George Mason University. The team suffered one loss against Duquesne University.
The Bonnies were led by sophomore, IM and breaststroke swimmer, Rachel Kimmel and junior, freestyle, butterfly and IM swimmer, Katrina Wardner.
Wardner and Kimmel combined for four individual victories. Wardner claimed victory in the 200 and 400 IMs, while Kimmel took home first in the 100 and the 200 events.
With the Atlantic 10 Classic being early in the season for the Bonnies, Kimmel had more on her mind than just placing first, but as a chance to gauge what kind of shape her and her teammates are in.
“You are definitely not looking for your best time in this meet,” said Kimmel. “But you are seeing how close you can get. So, the closer the better.”
Men’s and women’s swimming coach Skip Nitardy preached the same thoughts as Kimmel but is still very pleased with how the team is swimming early in the year compared to past seasons.
“We are swimming faster this year than we were last year at this time,” said Nitardy. “That’s our target, are we going faster than we were a year ago at this time, and we are so that’s good.” Wardner and Kimmel have swam side-by-side all year long, and Kimmel has been taking in all she can from the experienced junior.
“Honestly, she motivates me a lot,” said Kimmel. “I see her training hard, and I think yeah this is good then, and it is cool in the 200-IM, she finished first and I finished third. It was cool that we were at the top.”
The men’s team had a promising performance despite suffering three losses to La Salle, Saint Louis and George Mason.
Senior, breaststroke, fly and IM swimmer, Hylton Collinson stood out as a bright spot for the Bonnies, placing first in the 200-breastroke and grabbing a third-place in 100-breaststroke.
Collinson was generally satisfied with his finishes in the breaststroke events but was more concerned with the times he was hoping to post and keeping up a high work ethic.
“I was trying to get at least close to my times or as close as possible I guess,” said Collinson. “I don’t get too discouraged if I don’t hit them or don’t get what I desired to get just cause I am out working hard in the weight room and swimming,”
Along with leading the team in the pool, Collinson has apart the leaders for the Bonnies this season.
“My class, as seniors, come together quite well,” said Collinson. “We normally take votes together and sit down and decide what we are gonna do.”
As the season continues, the Bonnies’ workload will increase. Nitardy believes this is the time of the year to get his team into the best competitive shape possible.
“This is pretty heavy part of training right now,” said Nitardy. “This is one of the heaviest parts of the fall season because we will lighten up around Thanksgiving for a meet in Akron.”
The Atlantic 10 Classic served as a tune up for the Bonnies, as all the teams they faced they will race again at the A10 championship from Feb. 19- 22.
“This meet gives me a lot of confidence,” said Kimmel. “Because we race them again it’s like, oh, we already beat you guys.”
Next for the Bonnies, they are set to travel to Ithaca, New York for another tune-up meet at Cornell University, where they will continue to make strides towards the A10 championships in February.
“It is a heavy training dual meet in the middle of the season,” said Nitardy. “So we are going to go and see how fast we can swim and see if we can make some adjustments from last weekend and in some individual races that we know we need to work on.”
John Pullano, Sports Editor
pullanjj18@bonaventure.edu
