PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The St. Bonaventure men's swimming and diving team opened its 2026-27 season at the Rutgers Invitational this weekend led by an event win and podium finishes from sophomore Emanuele Zingaro.
 
The Bonnies competed against host Rutgers, Army, Boston College, Fordham and Northeastern at the meet, which took place on Friday evening and throughout the entirety of Saturday.
 
Zingaro earned his event win in the 50-free after clocking in at 19.92 on Friday night. He was followed by senior Joseph Pyon, whose time of 20.64 was good for a fourth-place tie, and freshman Pietro Mazzaretto, who took seventh (20.87).
 
Zingaro, a native of Varese, Italy, also turned in impressive performances in both the 100-free, where he earned a podium spot with a third-place finish (44.52), and the 100-back, where he was the Bonnies' top finisher in sixth place (50.12).
 
Sophomore Matheus Rinaldi earned another podium placement for SBU in the 500-free, where he finished second (4:34.62). He also placed fifth in the 1000-free, clocking in at 9:33.76.
 
The Bonnies' final individual podium placement of the weekend came courtesy of Pyon, who took third-place in the 100-fly (48.91). He later finished eighth in the 200-fly (1:53.03).
 
Fellow senior Kevyn Collazo Torres, a bronze medal winner at last year's Atlantic 10 Championships, posted two impressive times over the weekend, placing fourth in the 200-IM (1:50.73) and fifth in the 400-IM (4:03.87). Junior Mark Mizsei, a fellow bronze medal winner at last year's championship meet, placed fourth in the 500-free (4:36.79) to help boost the Brown and White.
 
Mazzaretto turned in another pair of formidable finishes in his first collegiate meet, taking fourth in the 200-free (1:39.22) and sixth-place in the 100-free (45.13).
 
A handful of other Bona's freshmen found staggered success in their first collegiate action, including Ben Witmer, Sam Dellasega and Dillon Spooner.
 
Witmer's highest finish of the weekend came in the 400-IM where he took sixth place (4:04.49). He also finished seventh in the 200-back (1:50.52) and ninth in the 100-back (51.33).
 
Dellasega and Spooner each earned seventh-place results in the 400-IM (4:08.81) and 200-back (1:50.52), respectively.
 
In relay action, the Bonnies turned in three podium performances as a squad.
 
Mazzaretto, Zingaro, Collazo Torres and Pyon combined to take third place in the 200-free relay on Friday evening. On Saturday morning, that group found another third-place finish in the 400-free relay (3:00.17).
 
Also on Friday evening, Collazo Torres, Witmer, Mizsei and Zingaro finished third in the 400-medley relay (3:19.02).
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH ALEC KANDT
"I'm very proud of how we raced. We intentionally came into this meet dead tired and our team showed that they can swim fast and race with some fast athletes under any circumstances. It's a special group and I can't wait to see what's next for us."
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies return to action Oct. 24, set to host Cleveland State at the Reilly Center Pool.
 
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