Men's Swimming and Diving Opens 2025-26 Season as Atlantic 10 Contenders

The St. Bonaventure men’s swimming and diving program enters its 40th season in the Atlantic 10 this year, kicking off competition on Oct. 9 at Penn State with eyes on again competing for a conference title.  

Heading into his fourth season as the program’s leader, head coach Mike Smiechowski looks to build on last year’s second-place finish at the A-10 Championships. It was the highest placement for the team at the conference meet since the 2015-16 season.  

Since his arrival at St. Bonaventure, Smiechowski has focused on returning the program to its dominance of the early 2000s. From 1998 to 2015, the Bonnies won three conference championships (2006, 2013, 2014) and were runners-up each year they did not win. 

“I think the perception of St. Bonaventure swimming and diving is starting to go back to what it was in the Sean McNamee era during that long stretch of success, and we’re very proud of that,” Smiechowski said. 

The Bonnies were selected second in this year’s conference preseason poll with 38 points, trailing only defending champion George Washington with 49 points. The Revolutionaries swept the first-place votes after securing a fifth-straight conference title last season. George Mason rounded out the favored trio with 32 points. 

“In my three years I’ve been here, going into my fourth, we seem to have been getting better and better,” Smiechowski said. “Top two is definitely something that’s exciting, but we do have our sights set on taking down George Washington or at least continuing to close the gap between a very good and talented team, one of the best mid-major swimming and diving programs in the country.” 

An important piece of Bona’s push toward a title will be senior diver Ben O’Neill, who returns after medaling at last year’s A-10 Championships. He collected silver on the 1-meter board (309.35), defending his medal from the previous season, and he will look to make the move to the top spot this year. “He has a chance to compete for a championship on both boards,” Smiechowski assessed.  

Bona divers are again led by head diving coach Alejandra Fuentes.  

Fellow seniors Luigi Termine and Henry Wilkes also return for their fourth seasons as Bonnies. Termine placed eighth overall in the 100-backstroke (48.83) and helped the 400-medley relay group set a new program record (3:11.86) at last year’s championship meet. Wilkes posted a seventh-place finish in the 200-backstroke (1:46.34) in the meet. Both veteran swimmers will be looking for improvement upon those results while taking on leadership roles for the program.  

Rounding out the senior class are returners Will Foggin, Boray Goren, and Mark Polos.

Johnny Edwards leads the charge for Bona’s junior class after multiple top-five finishes at last year’s conference championships. As well as contributing to a fourth-place finish in the in the 800-freestyle relay (6:33.10), he placed fifth in the 1650-freestyle (15:37.75). 

Joining Edwards on the list of returning juniors are Kevyn Collazo Torres, who was also a part of the fourth-place 800-freestyle team, and Carlos Hidalgo, who locked down 10th place in the 50-freestyle (20.20).  

Third-year Bonnie Paul Wissel and BYU transfer Joseph Pyon, who clocked one of the Cougars’ best 50-fly times in program history, round out the group. “Our junior class is very talented. They have had a lot of development in their last two years,” Smiechowski added.

“I’m looking for a good breakout from our sophomore class too,” said the fourth-year Bonaventure head coach. “It’s a smaller group, but they had a good freshman year, and we are looking to build off that.” 

A great base for that sophomore buildup will be Connor Peck and Mark Cattron. Peck placed sixth in the 400-IM (3:56.14) at last year’s championship meet, and while Cattron did not swim at the meet, he has shown strong development in the offseason and positioned himself as a contender this time around. 

A second BYU transfer and fellow sophomore, Grant Chapa, will look to make an impact in his first season for the Brown and White. He previously posted the 10th-best 50-back time in the Cougars’ program history. 

Quinn Borchers, Mark Mizsei, and Will Parker complete the sophomore class and are set to be scoring candidates for the Bonnies as the season moves forward.

A group of 12 exciting freshmen round out the 2025-26 roster as Smiechowski has made recruiting a perennial priority. 

Headlining the first-year crowd is Emanuele Zingaro, a top-300 recruit from Varese, Italy. An 11-time regional champion for Lombardia in sprint freestyle swims, Zingaro placed seventh in the 2025 Italian Championships and was third among swimmers in his class. 

Alongside Zingaro is the Mount Pleasant, Pa. native, David Mutter. A two-time All-American in the 100-butterfly, he is the record holder in the 100-butterfly for the state and his district. 

Brady Huettl, a freshman diver, has made impressive strides since joining the program and will look to make a name for himself in his first season at the collegiate level.  

Also joining the Bonnies as first-year student-athletes are Aleksandras Aleinikovas, Marcos Bravo, Goran Cindric, Willyan Haruo Matana, Matheus Rinaldi, Blaise Sadowski, Corey Su, Cole Tangeman, and Max Tucker. 

“We have some pretty highly rated recruits out of high school. Also, I think there are some dark horses,” Smiechowski said. “These are people who weren’t expected to make day one, immediate impacts, but they have put themselves in a position where they could contribute very early.” 

Along with Smiechowski and Fuentes, Mikaela Snayczuk joins the staff as a full-time assistant coach following a standout student-athlete career at Alfred State. The staff also welcomes part-time assistant Ani Dunffee.  

As the season rapidly approaches, the Bonnies expect a talented, evenly spread roster of talent to push them towards one common goal: a conference title. The team will get its chance for a trophy Feb. 18-21, traveling to Hampton, Va. for the 2026 A-10 Championships.