Administrative Thank-you!!!

Dear Parents,

As our swimming and diving seasons come to a close, I wanted to personally thank everyone for all you did to make last week’s events so memorable for everyone. Whether you were working the pool deck as a back-up timer or up in the stands cheering on our Bonnies, your presence and support is invaluable to our program and the success of the meet. The enthusiasm and creativeness of your cheers and banners all help make the championships so special to so many individuals. With all the different sport championships I’ve been involved with over the years, I can honestly say that these championships, year in and year out, are my favorite. And a large part of it has to do with the student-athletes and their families.

You should be very proud of your son or daughter for their accomplishments, whether it was winning a medal or scoring a personal best. And though we all wished for two championship trophies on Saturday evening, there is pride in consistently being two of the best programs in the conference. And, for many, there is always next year!

I’ve received some inquiries about the dates for 2010. The Championships are scheduled for February 17th – 20th, 2010 at the Flickinger Center in Buffalo so please mark it on your calendars. We have also submitted a bid for 2011 for the same corresponding weekend (the weekend after President’s Day). We will know if we have support for this bid in the next coming months.

Finally, I want to thank you for entrusting your child to St. Bonaventure and our family. I know that you and your child had a choice to make and that it is not always an easy one, especially when distance from home can make it so difficult for you as parents. But we are very pleased that the choice was St. Bonaventure and that they chose to continue their swimming and diving careers with us.

Thank you for your support and best wishes from our family to yours.

Sincerely,

Barbara Questa
Sr. Associate Director of Athletics

Building on the End Product

The 2009 Atlantic-10 Championships ended Saturday evening with your Bonnies in the two hole for the third straight year in a row. The night had its ups and downs and began with Mike Dansa finishing in 15th in the 1650 free and Kevin Murphy struggling to an 18th place finish for the Bonnies just out of the points. In the 200 backstroke Peter Koenig, Jake Greene and Rob Erickson finished off a solid first A-10's with them finishing 8th, 10th and 14th respectively with Erickson moving up and posting another lifetime best in the event with a 1:53.99. The 100 free was a strong point that could have ended better but set us up for the 400 free relay later that night. David Kundzik was touched out finishing second with a 45.50, Pat Henahan was 5th at 46.01 while Jared Robinson was 7th with a 46.34 and Francisco Nieves, who was the lone freshman in the top 8, was 8th at 46.47. The 200 breast saw freshman Ilya Nenashev incorporate the stroke technique we had been looking for all year into his swim and reaped the benefits with a very well swum 2:06.46 that won the consolation heat, while junior Mariusz Michalik finished off a solid meet with his third A-10 title in the event with a 2:02.79. The 200 fly served as Chris Happel's final event with another lifetime best of 1:55.45 good for 12th place and Hunter Baskerville improved his time and finished 15th with a 1:56.23. The men's 3 meter dive saw Ryan Pietrzak finish his SBU career in 8th place in finals while Jon Larson and Trevor Herzog finished in 10th and 13th. The final event of the meet was the 400 Free Relay and hopes were high that we could end on a high note but anticipated strong competition even though we had 4 in the top 8 of the 100 earlier that night. Chris Baker led off with a blazing 45.78 followed by Jared Robinson, who overcame a tough freshman experience in not scoring a point to finaling in all three of his events this year. Jared posted a 45.43 which put David Kundzik in the water who swam a very strong leg to give us a lead with a 44.79 who handed it off to Pat Henahan who split 44.94 and had to hang tough in the last 25 to hold off a charging Justin Coombs from Fordham for the victory with a very solid time of 3:00.94, just off of the A-10 Record.
Here is the video of the race.

All in all it was a solid showing for the young squad. There was a lot to build off while also showing us where we need to improve. The quest will continue!!! After the meet the senior parents held a banquet at the Pearl Street Grill that was very well attended and gave us the opportunity to recognize our graduating seniors in front of the entire group. We also got the opportunity to wish well to Lance Brennan who is leaving the coaching ranks with the women's team to assume compliance duties in the athletic department. Alumni came out in nice numbers also during the weekend: Dr. Rob Erickson, Ryan Bronowicz, Adrian Blaszczak, Matt Cormier, Chris Ekimoff, CJ Maurer and Mike Postles were all spotted, along with a nice array of alumni parents. Thanks to all that followed the action and sent their well wishes over the course of the week. Now it is on the recruiting trail to try to assemble a group that will take the fight to another level. if there is someone in your area that I should be looking at please do not hesitate to contact me. Our family reaches far and wide and your help is appreciated.

Here is a link to the results: http://www.starswimming.org/results/A-10/

Saturday Morning

We had a very strong effort heading into the last day of competition at A-10's. The 200 backstroke saw huge lifetime bests from all three participants, Peter Koenig 7th 1:52.28, Jake Greene 9th (ugh) 1:52.74 and Rob Erickson 16th 1:55.36. The 100 free the best showing out of the Bonnies in the meet with 4 making it back in the top 8. David Kundzik qualified 1st at 45.52, Pat Henahan sits 3rd with a 45.78 while Jared Robinson continues to have a breakout meet in 7th with a 46.20 and freshman Francisco Nieves is 8th at 46.45. Clayton Colman got out to a slow 5o and was 21st with a 47.44. The 200 breast saw Mariusz Michalik finish 2nd at 2:04.61 in a very relaxed swim and Ilya Nenashev FINALLY swam the stroke we have been working on and qualified 11th with a 2:07.76. The 200 fly was the last event of the session and Chris Happel and Hunter Baskerville made it back in the consolation heat in 13th and 15th. Dan Quirk and Dan Eisemann did their time trial 1650 following the session and Dan Quirks final swim of his SBU career is in the books Dan Eisemann finished in 17:12.58 and Quirk touch at 17:15.69. The entire team stayed to watch one our best ambassadors finish his career in the pool.



Tonight will mark the end for our other seniors Chris Happel & Pat Henahan as well as divers Jon Larson and Ryan Pietrzak and manager for all four years Phil Smith. It will be difficult seeing them go out with the mission incomplete but there is still a lot of pride and fight in this group going into tonight.

Good but...

Friday night finished with our Bonnies still in second place but lost ground to UMass 453.5-365 Xavier is in third with 310 and Duquesne right behind with 302. The 400 IM started off the night with Mariusz Michalik finishing in 4th place with a 4:01.04, Yi Liu was 11th at 4:07.94 and Hunter Baskerville was 15th at 4:11.20. The 100 fly was a very strong event for us with David Kundzik finishing 2nd going 49.47, Pat Henahan 5th at 50.14 and Chris Happel 6th at 50.30. Clayton Coleman was in the consolation heat and finished 15th at 51.71. In the 200 free Mike Dansa continued his solid meet with a 1:40.91 which was good for 6th place while Chris Baker won the consi heat at 1:42.13 along with J-Rob 14th, Franisco Nieves 15th and Clayton Coleman 16th. In the 100 breast Kevin Murphy was our lone representative and almost kept the SBU breaststroke dominance intact but got touched out by Duquesnes Ian Walsh. Kevin's swim of 56.11 was our honored swim of the session. In the 100 back Peter Koenig finished 8th with a 51.86 and Jake Greene ended up 16th. The final event of the session was the 400 Medley Relay and the team of Koenig, Murphy, Kundzik and Henahan finished third with a Varsity Record setting time of 3:21.03.
The reality of the situation is that we need to keep up the intensity to hold position and try to close the gap on UMass, so all are heading to bed for another full day of action on Saturday.

Finals Exam!!

Well we shall see what we are made of come this evening. The morning session was good but there was absolute room for improvement. We will see the character of this squad tonight as they will have to step it up "Big Time". Freshmen made a huge impact this morning with some great swims!!

Highlights:
Mariusz Michalik 4:02.36 2nd going into finals 400 IM
Hunter Baskerville lifetime best 4:09.45 10th to this point
Clayton Coleman tough double and made it back in 100 fly 51.11 and 200 free 1:42.84 (both lifetime bests)
Chris Happel first ever A-10 Championship final in 100 fly 50.65, 8th
Jared Robinson 9th (ugh) in the 200 free with a great swim of 1:42.34
Francisco Nieves 1:43.82 and 16th (a great surprise!!!)
Kevin Murphy tied for 4th in the 100 breast at lifetime best of 57.09
Jake Greene with a huge 100 back, snuck in at 16th and giant lifetime best of 52.85 and sets him up nicely for the 2 back
Peter Koenig's tough double today with 4 IM and 100 back and ripped a 51.31 in the back and is seeded 5th.

Should be an interesting 400 Medley Relay to finish the evening session.

Fast & Furious!!

A determined and motivated Bonnies men's team mounted a charge from the basement in the the first complete day of competition. Starting it all off were our 500 freestyler's, Kevin Murphy and Mike Dansa who set the tone with a 5th & 6th place finish going improved finals times of 4:35.10 and 4:36.43 respectively. In the 200 IM we were paced by Chris Baker 1:53.11 and Mariusz Michalik 1:53.75 who finished 5th & 6th, also in the consolation heat Chris Happel (1:56.79) added a 14th place finish in swimming this event for the first time and Yi Liu struggled to a 16th place finish. In the 50 free Jared Robinson wound up the team with a consi winning 20.86 winning the heat while freshman Francisco Nieves improved to 21.08 for a 13 place finish. They set the table for David Kundzik and Pat Henahan to to rip off a 1-3 finish in the "dive and dash" with times of 20.61 and 20.79. With three 20's in the 50 we were really looking forward to the evenings final contest, the 200 Free Relay. The team of Kundzik, Robinson, Chris Baker and Henahan did not disappoint and brought home the title with a winning time of 1:21.97. Earlier in the day our divers finished just out of the top eight with Ryan Pietrzak 9th, Jon Larson 10th and Trevor Herzog 13th place finish.

The 200 Free Relay concluded a day of swimming that saw the Bonnies ascend from 8th to second place, just 56 points behind leading UMass. Friday looks to be another ripping day for the Bonnies who do not need to look hard for motivation. After yesterdays fast swimming the boys are looking forward to getting into the water and resuming the charge.

Wednesday done!

Well we had a little bit of both on the first night of the Atlantic-10 Swimming and Diving Championships. We started off the evening winning the 200 Medley Relay with a conference and varsity record setting 1:29.43. The team of Peter Koenig, Kevin Murphy, David Kundzik and Pat Henahan destroyed the competition in finishing just under 2 seconds ahead of second place UMass. The second relay of the evening was the 800 Free Relay and an exhilerating second place finish was wiped-out by a false start disqualification. We currently sit in eighth place just 29 points behind first place Xavier. I would not trade the way we are swimming, to get those relay points and we are very excited about what the upcoming days should hold for the men's swimmers.
Today's events are the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free with the 200 Free Relay being contested tonight. Results can be accessed via our www.gobonnies.com website.

and away we go...

We depart Tuesday for the A-10 Championships. We will be leaving campus around 2:30 and head to Buffalo and make it home for the next 5 days while competing at the Atlantic-10 Swimming and Diving Championships. I will try to keep up to date as much as time will allow while in Buffalo but please feel free to follow along via the gobonnies.com & atlantic10.org websites. The team looks very ready to unleash six months of preparation for a chance at grabbing the championship.
Have a great week as I hope we do!!!

A-10 Schedule of Events

Here is a link to the events schedule for our A-10 Championships next Wednesday-Saturday.

http://atlantic10.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/atl10/sports/c-swim/auto_pdf/scheduleswimchamp

Alumni Weekend

I want to put out a special thanks to those alums that made it back to campus this weekend. We had some lively conversation and good times over the course of the weekend. Even though it was a sparse showing it was special and even resulted in a match race between Ekimoff and Jordan, after the men's basketball victory against LaSalle, where Chris Ekimoff took the best 2 out of 3 series.

Alums in attandance:

Cole Racho
Matt Fix
Chris Ekimoff
Scott Jordan
Mike Postles
Roman Margulis
Jimmy Wood
CJ Maurer

A-10 Seating Information

Please share with your athletes, parents and fans the following information in advance of next weeks’ championships.
PARENTS/FANS
The balcony seating area will open on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., which is one hour prior to the start of the diving competition. All session and individual session passes may be purchased at that time.
Seating is general admission; there is NO reserved seating. If your families choose to decorate an area, please remind them that ANYONE may sit in any area if a bench is unoccupied. Balloons will be permitted again this year as well decorations as long as they do not block or impede the view of others. Any decorations or signs that are hung prior to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday will be removed and discarded. Hence, if your athletes sneak up there Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning and decorate, those decorations will be taken down.
ATHLETES
Team benches may be decorated once the seating is selected at the coaches meeting on Wednesday morning. Nothing should be hung or left in a bench area prior to Wednesday mid-morning or it will be discarded.
Your cooperation with your families and athletes is much appreciated. We hope to avoid confrontations like we’ve had in the past in the seating area due to “territorial” issues.
I look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Safe travels to western New York.
Barb
Barbara Questa
Sr. Associate Director of Athletics
St. Bonaventure University
PO Box G
St. Bonaventure, NY 14778

Weekend Wrap-up

We wrapped up the dual meet season this weekend with meets against Penn State on Friday and Home against Niagara on Saturday. The Penn State meet gave us the opportunity to see the #19 program in the country. This also gave us the opportunity to see some guys in off events. The final score of 127-105 is due to some compassion from PSU but it did serve a good purpose for us with some time improvements for our A-10 entries. The highlight of the meet was a match-up between Colin and Dan Quirk in the 50 free!!! Colin, who is at Penn State, touched out his brother Dan who is a senior for us in an emotionally charged exhibition heet of the 50!

On Saturday we hosted Niagara for our final dual meet of the season. We ended up with a strong finish with a 177-65 win over the Purple Eagles with the main focus being on three individuals who had their last opportunity to display what they could do prior to our A-10's. We have some tough cuts to make and Clayton Coleman, Dan Eisemann and Rob Erickson made the most of their final opportunity to show their worth. All three posted lifetime bests in their events: Clayton Coleman (1:43.77 200 free, 51.97 100 fly, 47.92 100 free), Dan Eisemann (9:55.15 1000 free, 4:48.58 500 free) and Rob Erickson (21.89 50 free, 1:55.95 200 back). This is a great problem to have in having some tough decisions on who will make the A-10 squad.

We are now in full rest mode and will be leaving for Buffalo next Wednesday. We had a very lively practice today and the team is looking forward to next week. We are having four recruits in this weekend for Official Visits and look forward to showing them what we are all about at SBU.

Here are links to the recent meet results:

http://gobonnies.cstv.com/sports/m-swim/stats/2008-2009/pennstateresults.html
http://gobonnies.cstv.com/sports/m-swim/stats/2008-2009/niagara2-6-09.html

Alumni Weekend

For those heading in this weekend I wanted to give a quick timeline of activities for those attending.

Friday 10:00pm: gathering at the Village Green in Olean. We are at a dual meet at Penn State and should be back around 10.

Saturday 1:00: Home Meet vs. Niagara
4:00: Reception at the Skeller
5:15: Dinner at the University Club in Hickey Dining Hall
7:00: Home men's basketball game vs. LaSalle
Post game reception in the Athletic Hall of Fame.

I am in great need of getting a rough idea on the number of people to expect so if you could please respond with names attending it would be greatly appreciated.