ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — The St. Bonaventure men's swimming and diving team readies for the 2023-24 season under second year head coach Mike Smiechowski. The season gets underway on Sept. 30 as the team travels to Penn State for a dual meet. 
 
The Bonnies roster includes seven seniors, Kyle Gluck, Jaxon Kaster, Teddy Murphey, Maxwell Murray, Michael Pietrucha, Zachary Titus and Tommy White who look to bring leadership to the squad. 
 
"It's always helpful to have experienced leadership on a roster. It's even more helpful when that experienced leadership all have the capacity to contribute in a big way athletically," Smiechowski said. "Our senior class is where we will depend on the most to establish culture and provide leadership. I have challenged them in a big way to step up and create the championship culture we seek to establish long term."
 
Joshua Bannon and Nicholas Nakaya return to the team for their fifth years, and Tanner Falls and Sam Matthews come to St. Bonaventure as grad transfers. Falls was previously a member of the swim team at Army while Matthews competed at Geneseo. 
 
Junior Alex Behr comes off a successful sophomore campaign setting a school record in the 200-fly and earning a fourth-place finish at Atlantic 10 Championships. Behr also set a new school record in the 100-fly with a time of 47:44 on the third day of the meet.
 
Davis Hutchinson, Mikolaj Synowiec, and Knute Wargin join Behr as members of the junior class. 
 
Sophomore Ben Giera earned a gold medal in the 3-meter dive at A-10's in what was a superb freshman campaign for the Rockford, Mich. native. He also collected bronze in the 1-meter dive at the championship. 
 
Will Foggin, Boray Goren, Ben O'Neill, Mark Polos, Luigi Termine, and Henry Wilkes join Giera in the sophomore class. 
 
Also making a trip to the podium at the conference championship was senior Maxwell Murray. The Penfield, N.Y. native set a program record in the mile at the event as he touched the wall with a time of 15:27.81. The senior set another program record in the 500-freestyle last year with a time of 4:22.92.
 
Hungry to best their sixth-place team finish from a year ago, the Bonnies have been putting in the work over the summer and in the preseason.
 
"When we started our first practice in August in shape and ready to go, they proved to myself and the staff that they are a team to be taken seriously," Smiechowski noted. "We have lofty goals as a program and if we accomplish what we set out to do it will be more of a reflection on the work they put in when no one was watching than it will be on us, the coaching staff."
 
Kevyn Collazo Torres, Johnny Edwards, Aiden Hall, Carlos Hidalgo, Andrew Ketler, Jerrell Sackett and Paul Wissel join the team as freshmen looking to make an immediate impact. Smiechowski spoke of his expectations for the group saying, "We look to be competitive now, we won't be able to do that without significant contributions from the freshman class. They knew that when they were recruited and so far, they haven't backed down from that challenge."
 
After returning from Penn State, the Bonnies take on Youngstown State in the Reilly Center Pool. They will also host Le Moyne in late October and Little Three rival Canisius at the end of January. 
 
They meet with Niagara for their only away event in the month of October. In November, the team will take trips to Army and Cornell for dual meets and then to George Mason for the Patriot Invitational. The lone event in December is at Canisius before the Bonnies kick off the new year at the Buffalo Diving Invitational. The team squares off with Duquesne and Clarion for one final test before the Atlantic 10 Championship at the Hampton Aquaplex in Hampton, Va. 
 
"We have an exciting schedule where we go up against some top-level teams in the country," said Smiechowski. "These dual meet tests will be a good opportunity for our programs to race outside of their comfort zones."

---
For the latest news on St. Bonaventure athletics, stay connected on social media. Follow the Bonnies on Twitter @GoBonnies and get men's and women's swimming and diving updates @BonniesSwimDive. Keep up with the Bonnies on Facebook /GoBonnies and on Instagram @GoBonnies.