Head coach Sean McNamee and the St. Bonaventure men’s swimming and diving team are hard at work preparing for the Atlantic 10 Championship, which begins Wednesday in Geneva, Ohio.
The six-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year knows his team has put in the work and it’s now time to cash in on that investment.
“It all boils down to this,” McNamee said. “That’s the unique part of our sport, it’s a lot of investment for only three days of competition.” “We’ve done our work, the investment is in the bank and now it’s time to see what kind of return we get from all the hard work”
Coach McNamee will be looking at team leaders Michael Pilyugin, Michael White, Preston Schilling, Matt Goettler and Matt Schutt to perform well at the championship meet.
“Those individuals have real shots at making NCAA cuts,” McNamee said of his standouts this season. “Our ultimate goal is sending swimmers to the NCAA meet, and these individuals have a real chance to do that.”
The Bonnies have won five Atlantic 10 championships, but will face increased competition as the conference continues to improve.
“The improvement this conference has seen over the last five years is shocking,” McNamee said. “This year in the A-10 it’s a six horse race for the top tier. It’s going to be a tighter pack between second and sixth than we’ve ever seen historically in the conference.”
As far as his expectations, McNamee is looking for his swimmers show up and have some big swims. “We need huge contributions from our leaders, and our support staff. Our freshman and sophomores are key if we are going to have success over the next three days.”
The Atlantic 10 Championships will be held at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Prelims begin at 10:00 a.m. with finals following at 6:00 p.m.
For championship information, please visit the Atlantic 10 Championship Central byclicking here.
Swimming news courtesy of St. Bonaventure Swimming & Diving.