By Zach Waltz
Contributing Writer
The men’s swimming and diving team (3-1) defeated both LaSalle (2-2) and Xavier (4-3) in its first conference meet of the year last Saturday.
The team will host the Cleveland State Vikings (4-1-1) tomorrow.
Coach McNamee said swimming at home gives the Bonnies a distinct advantage over other teams and applauds Cleveland State for agreeing to swim in the Reilly Center pool.
“We don’t get many opportunities, so it’s difficult for the visiting team to compete in our facility,” McNamee said. “That’s why we have so few home meets because teams don’t like to come in here. I give Cleveland State a lot of credit for continuing to come here when many others won’t take that challenge.”
Senior Elias Homerin said the team has a very good shot at beating Cleveland State, but there is always the possibility of losing.
“Do we have a shot if we swim up?” Homerin said. “Yeah. Could the unfortunate happen? That’s likely as well. I think it’s fifty-fifty; it depends on if we’re there on Saturday or not.”
McNamee said the Vikings will be a tough test.
“It’s going to be extremely competitive,” McNamee says. “Cleveland State matches up very well with us. They’re a very highly ranked team.”
On Saturday, the Bonnies put up a great performance against two Atlantic 10 teams, defeating LaSalle (192.5-139.5) and Xavier (188-134). McNamee said he is happy with the fast times from the meet but is worried the team hit its peak too early in the season.
“We swam extremely well,” McNamee said. “That was probably one of the better dual-meet performances I’ve seen with this team. We swam extremely fast, which is good and concerning at the same time, but with the training we’ve been doing, that was a pretty good indicator, with as fast as we swam in the pool, that we’re going to be having our A-10s in.”
McNamee said this meet was beneficial in measuring the team’s chances against A-10 competitors.
“LaSalle and Xavier were third and fourth at A-10s, so two quality teams within the conference and for us to go in and, especially in the relays, have some extremely solid relay performances bodes well for us,” McNamee said. “That should give these guys some motivation to come in here and train even harder and keep our eye on the ball as far as what the task is, which is in February.”
Homerin believes the team’s performance shows exactly how well the team will compete when it comes time for the A-10s and notes the team’s main target is the University of Massachusetts.
“I think we have a real good shot this year,” Homerin said. “Our primary target is going to be UMass, who’s going to be a real challenge.”
