By Zach Waltz
Assistant Sports Editor
The defending Atlantic 10 Conference Champions are back in the pool.
Head coach of the men’s swimming and diving team Sean McNamee was quick to say that the team’s current focus is on repeating their success this season, adding that last season’s championship is far in the past for them.
Junior freestyler and butterflyer David Paccapaniccia said that all the Bonnies can do at this point is focus on the upcoming season.
“The big thing we’ve been trying to preach this year is not to focus on the past because it’s in the past and to just let it be a good memory,” Paccapaniccia said. “The goal for this year is to repeat our success, but for the incoming freshmen, we need to be focused on what we can control this year.”
McNamee said the team is going through a transitional period after losing some key team members including Michael Murphy, who won the diving championship last year, and freestyler Elias Homerin.
“We always go through the transition and the shift of leadership up to our seniors,” McNamee said. “We have a high level accountability that needs to be had, and the senior leadership is directly responsible for that. Things have gone extremely well to that point.”
McNamee said the team has had a rough start up, but has a long season to iron out those wrinkles.
“To this point, we’ve had a lot hiccups with illnesses and some freakish injuries, but nothing out of character, and nothing season-ending or season-compromising,” McNamee said. “The learning curve has gone pretty well. We’ve had some bumps in the road, but it’s a six-month-long season, and you can expect a lot more than a few.”
The Bonnies’ first meet of the season is the Western New York Invite in Buffalo on Saturday. Teams attending the meet include Buffalo, Niagara, and McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
Paccapaniccia said the team is looking forward to getting in the pool and racing for the first time this year.
“Mainly, (the invite) gets the butterflies out to get us in the mode of competing,” Paccapaniccia said. “Obviously, it’d be great to see some good times, just to see where we’re at right now. It’ll be a good test to see how we can get up and race.”
McNamee said the meet serves as an early-season tune-up for the team, especially the freshmen.
“It’s an un-scored meet,” McNamee said. “It’s really more of a glorified practice where it’s an opportunity for us to get up and race. It’ll be the first time I’ve been able to see our freshmen get up and race a little bit. It won’t be a true test as to what they’re capable of, because we’re going to be pretty fatigued going into it.”
