BY COLBY GAINES, STAFF WRITER
The St. Bonaventure men and women’s swimming and diving team traveled to Niagara Falls last weekend to take on Niagara in a head-to-head matchup, with the women’s team coming away victorious and the men’s team falling short.
This was a remarkable performance for the women, defeating the previously undefeated Niagara (6-1) team with their 162-136 statement win. But, if that wasn’t impressive enough, five different Bonnies had multiple individual victories in Saturday’s duel.
The St. Bonaventure women dominated the leaderboards, recording a first place in 27 of 31 total events within the matchup.
Leading the way for the women was senior Claire Schaef, who finished first in three different events. Schaef ended the 1000-freestyle with a time of 10:39.81, the 200-freestyle at 1:57.76 and the 500-freestyle at 5:15.11.
Senior Zanre Oberholzer earned a few victories as well, clocking in at 57.76 for the 100-backstroke and 2:07.31 in the 200-backstroke.
The two weren’t alone, though, as senior Rachel Kimmel secured two victories on Saturday, with the 100-breaststroke (1:03.16) and the 200-breaststroke (216.93). Kimmel fell just short in the 200-IM, closing out the match with a second-place finish of 2:09.16. This was Kimmel’s first performance since being awarded Atlantic 10 Performer of the Week.
“While it was nice [being awarded Atlantic 10 performer of the week], it didn’t give me extra motivation,” Kimmel admitted. “I enjoy competing, and I wanted to see how fast I could go in a dual meet leading up to the Atlantic 10 Championships. I also made it a goal to break Niagara’s pool records in the 100 and 200 [meter] breaststrokes, which gave me some motivation.”
Freshman Silvana Cabrera also picked up a victory in the 200-butterfly (2:08.19). Additionally, Cabrera finished victorious in the 100-butterfly (58.74).
In addition, the 200-medley relay team of Kimmel, Oberholzer, Cabrera and freshman Halle Myers scrapped out a win, finishing 1:47.28.
Junior Amanda Baird showed out this weekend as well, earning victories in the 1-meter dive (238.28) and the 3-meter, finishing with a score of 259.80.
However, the men weren’t as victorious.
While Graduate student Maciej Danilewski earned multiple individual victories in Saturday’s match, the Bonnies men’s swim and dive team would fall to the Purple Eagles, 150-138.
Danilewski highlighted Saturday’s meet for St. Bonaventure, pulling victories in the 100-backstroke (50.65) as well as the 200-backstroke (1:56.19). Alongside Danilewski was sophomore Maxwell Murray, who secured a win in the 1000-freestyle (10:01.06) while also placing second in the 500-freestyle (4:51.79) for the Brown and White.
In the 100-breaststroke, junior Nicholas Nakaya finished at 1:00.08 to earn his team a victory.
Freshman Alexander Behr pitched in a win in the 200-butterfly with a time of 1:55.92, also finishing second in the 100-butterfly (51.61) for the Bonnies.
Senior George Kalletta swam to victory in the 200-IM while touching the wall for a time of 1:57.25.
For the divers, sophomore Lucas Dekaney scored a solid 295.58 in the three-meter dive to earn himself a victory.
With Saturday’s loss to Niagara, the Bonnies men’s swim and dive continue their tough stretch, losing two of their last three and falling to 1-3 on the season. For the women’s squad, their impressive performance keeps momentum alive to win their third straight and push them to 4-1. Both teams, however, will move forward, looking ahead to the Atlantic 10 Championships—beginning February 16, at Spire Institute, Geneva, Ohio.
gainesca21@bonaventure.edu
