Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: AIDAN SHINNERS; STAFF WRITER
Coming off a dual meet win over Canisius University, St. Bonaventure University’s men’s and women’s swim and dive teams travel to Cleveland, Ohio to compete in the Magnus Cup invitational tournament from Nov. 20-22. The 2025 Magnus Cup is being hosted by Cleveland State, and will feature eight teams, including Xavier University, Binghamton University, and on the women’s side, the Mid-American Conference’s Akron University.
On the men’s side, senior diver Ben O’Neill said that due to the Magnus Cup taking place over multiple days, preparation takes more than just being ready to perform.
“These meets are mentally and physically tiring,” O’Neill said. “It’s important not only to practice hard but to focus on rest and nutrition.”
Junior Lia Doskoris of the women’s diving team said on top of her training, it is important to get in the right mindset when preparing for the Magnus Cup.
“It is about mental preparation,” Doskoris said. “Confidence, visualization and maintaining consistency are important factors.”
Sophomore Phoebe McClaren doubled down on the importance of being mentally prepared, and how important it is for her to stay confident in herself.
“The meet will be more of a mental game than a physical one since we trained so hard,” McClaren said. “You have to stay out of your own head and can’t get too excited or let emotions run too high. Last year I put too much pressure on myself, and the Magnus Cup didn’t go very well.”
McClaren said it will be important for the team to lift one another up regardless of individual performance.
“Sometimes we get dragged down if we don’t do well at an event, but we need to make sure to lift everybody up.” McClaren said. “I know everyone is doing individual races, but we’re still a team at the end of the day. It’s important to make sure our teammates are having a good time and aren’t in their heads.”
Senior Will Foggin said that preparation for the Magnus Cup gets the team ready for the workload of the Atlantic 10 Championship event in February.
“We prepare for this meet like a trial run for A-10s,” Foggin said. “We dial in things like starts, and turns, and pace work and try to come into this type of meet fresh and ready to swim fast.”
Foggin said the field the Bonnies will be competing against will set them up well for the A-10 Championships.
“Looking at the competition, it will be good preparation for when we go into A-10s as underdogs,” Foggin said. “Teams like Cleveland State, Xavier and Binghamton are all strong and have pushed us to the limit in the past.”
Doskoris said that the Magnus Cup will be a good measuring stick for the team to see if they can compete with the tough competition in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
“Competing against schools like Akron can always be a challenge, but it is also exciting,” Doskoris said. “It pushes us to perform our best and is a great opportunity to see how we stack up against high-level competitors.”
O’Neill mentioned the importance of going into the Magnus Cup with a positive mindset as his key to facing such difficult competition.
“Seeing people who look sharper, faster and who look more prepared helps me tune into the right mindset,” O’Neill said. “They haven’t worked harder than I have, so all I need to do is show up and show off.”
Junior Brigham Young University transfer Joseph Pyon is going into the meet with the expectation of winning and credits the work his team has done in practice as the primary factor.
“I’m excited to win,” Pyon said. “I know how hard me and the boys have prepared for this meet; hard work will never betray you.”
Pyon is pushing himself hard this year, going in with the expectation to perform better than ever.
“I want to set some personal bests and set the record in the 200-meter medley relay with my teammates,” Pyon said. “It’ll be a hard task which is exactly why I want it so bad.”
McClaren and Doskoris said that keeping energy high and keeping their teammates’ confidence up will be the keys to succeeding in the Magnus Cup and building momentum toward the A-10 Championships.
“It’s good to keep our energy up and get prepared for A-10s,” McClaren said. “We’re always a good and cohesive team when everyone is excited and cheering.”
“We aim to support each other, stay positive and keep building confidence.” Doskoris said. “If we can walk away knowing we all gave our best efforts then it’s a success.”
