By Dominic LoVallo
Assistant Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure women’s swimming and diving team is back from its hiatus and is beginning to compete in meets again. The Bonnies were last in action late November, where they came in third out of six teams at the Pittsburgh Invitational.
The Bonnies came out from their December break and beat the Binghamton Bearcats with 166.5 points to the Bearcats’ 121.5, giving the Bonnies their second win of the season.
Junior Bridget Jordan gave her teammates credit for their endurance and effort in the last meet.
“After having just returned from a 10-day training camp in Florida, our bodies were pretty broken down and fatigued going into Saturday’s meet.” Jordan said. “Luckily there were multiple sets in Florida where we were put into race-type situations, which definitely stuck in the backs of our minds and allowed us to feel more confident going into the meet. Despite how our bodies were feeling, I felt that the whole team went into the meet with a positive attitude that really motivated us to push past our physical fatigue. ”
The Bonnies’ ten days in Florida was a way to keep the team in top shape while going through the break. Even though fatigued, it proved useful in the meet against the Bearcats.
Bonaventure received strong performances from all aspects of their team. In the 400-yard free relay, swimmers Jordan, Rachel Taylor, Maggie Woods and Tanja Kirmse finished in first place with a time of 3:42.20.
The team’s singles swimmers, seniors Elizabeth Malone (200-yard fly), Adelyn Graf (200-yard backstroke) and Kirmse (500-yard freestyle), finished in first place. Sophomores Alyssa Levac (100 and 200-yard breaststroke) and Devon McFadden (200-yard IM) also came in first place.
In diving, freshman Brittany Hart stole the show, claiming first place in both the one-meter and three-meter diving events. She scored a 190.12 and a 224.31 respectively on the two events.
The team also received news which goes into effect in the fall of next season as the team has announced that six students, three swimmers and three divers, have signed to become Bonnies.
Jordan expressed how happy she is to be given a new line-up of teammates come her senior year next season.
“I could not be more excited about the new swimmers that Coach Carlson will be bringing into the program next year,” Jordan said. “All of the swimmers will bring different strengths to the team in terms of strokes and distances swam as well as great personalities and drive, which can only add to our already excelling swim program.”
The Bonnies will now start to turn their attention to the Niagara Purple Eagles. The team will face the Purple Eagles at an away meet next on Jan. 30.
“Niagara is a team that we race every year,” Jordan said. “It is always a meet where we want to win. As we come closer to A-10’s, it is important that we continue to race hard and focus on the little things that can make big differences in close races.”
lovalldv15@bonaventure.edu
