The St. Bonaventure women’s swimming and diving team loss its meet against Cornell University Saturday, 164-136. The loss drops the Bonnies record to 5-4 on the season.
Although a loss, the Bonnies won a total of eight events and were led by Rachael Kimmel and Katrina Wardner, last week’s Atlantic 10 performer of the week.
Kimmel won the 100-meter breaststroke event with a time of 1:04 minutes and the 200-meter breaststroke event with a time of 2:20.19 minutes. Wardner won the 100-meter butterfly with a time of 58.05 seconds and Wardner also won the 200-meter individual medley event with a time of 2:07.40 minutes.
Wardner claimed a winning mentality is what helped the Bonnies stay competitive with Cornell.
“I wanted to beat them,” Wardner said. “The past two years they have been very good. I don’t think in the past two years we expected to win, but we knew going into this meet there was going to be a chance. We came pretty close to it.”
Wardner said the team’s coaches were happy with the performance as the team trained hard throughout the days leading up to the meet.
Senior diver, Elena Rohr, said diving coach Stephanie Fleming was impressed with the diving team’s progression. Rohr has been impressed, too.
“On the diving side we have made a lot of improvements,” Rohr said. “Our scores may have not reflected these improvements, but we’ve been pushing it.”
Rohr was especially pleased with her second-place finish in the 1-meter dive. Although Rohr was pleased with her performance, she wants to improve her technique and her mentality on the diving board going forward.
Both Rohr and Wardner had high regards for the Bonnies’ 100 and 200-meter breaststrokers. Rohr and Wardner highlighted Rachel Kimmel, Hayley Tasselmyer, Emerson Graham and Beth Thomas as key performers so far this season. All four breaststrokers have been strong in all meets, and they’ve been working hard, according to Rohr and Wardner.
One of the reasons for improvement, according to Rohr and Wardner, is the team’s motivation. The team has put up motivational signs and goals around the locker room.
According to Wardner, another reason for progress this year is experience.
“Last year with the new coach, everything was brand new,” Wardner said. “The teams were combined for the first year. Now we have the hang of it being that way.”
The Bonnies’ next meet is today against Canisius. Wardner said the keys to a good meet are keeping the good mindset that has led to the team’s overall improvement from last year.
By Bryce Kelly, Contributing Writer
kellybw19@bonaventure.edu
