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/