BY: RILEY PENDLETON, STAFF WRITER
Photo Courtesy of gobonnies.com
The St. Bonaventure swim and dive team traveled to Virginia this past week to compete in the Atlantic 10 Championship meet. The men’s team finished as runner-ups in the competition, making this the best finish for the program since 2016. The women’s team finished in ninth place, with swimmers setting program records during the meet.
The men’s team had multiple podium finishers, including senior Alexander Behr who defended his silver medal in the 200-butterfly from the previous season. He also bested his previous championship time of 1:44.91 with a new time of 1:43.80.
In the 200-breastroke, Aidan Kreiley received his second medal of the meet, earning bronze. He also set a new program record of 1:56.94, beating his previous program record.
Junior Ben Giera earned a bronze medal in the 3-meter dive with a score of 350.00. Even with the individual accolades, team success was the Bonnies’ main priority.
“Team success was the most important thing [going into A-10’s],” said junior Luigi Termine. “If we wanted to achieve a goal as a team, we needed to put aside our personal goals and focus on the team. This is why we were able to find success”
For the women’s team, freshman Phoebe McClaren stamped her name in the record books as she set a program record in the 1650-freestyle with a time of 16:51.49.
Borjana Forjan, Halle Myers, Ellie Kraus and Nele Vetter combined for a time of 3:20.72 to set another record for the fastest 400-freestyle relay time in program history.
Seniors Halle Myers and Ellie Kraus both made appearances in the 100-free finals, with Myers placing eight. Even with the high stakes of a championship week, it is important to stay poised, according to Lyons.
“It’s a much different environment [swimming at A-10’s] but it’s important to just think of it as any other meet,” said junior Katie Lyons.“We obviously build up for A-10’s to be our best meet of the year but staying calm, trusting the work you’ve done and having fun is how we needed to approach it.”
Both men’s and women’s teams finished the season breaking records. The teams will have roughly seven months to prepare for next season.
