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Sophie Baker, a Futures and YMCA Nationals qualifier, has announced her verbal commitment to study and swim at Saint Bonaventure University beginning in the fall of 2025.
Currently a junior at Perry High School, Baker trains with the Massillon YMCA Gators and lives in Canton, Ohio, less than four hours away from the university in Saint Bonaventure, N.Y.
I am very excited to announce that I will be continuing my academic and athletic career at St. Bonaventure University! I’d like to thank Coach Mike, Coach Matt, and all my future teammates for being so kind and generous during my visit and making it feel like home the whole time. Go Bonnies!
As a sophomore, Baker was the only member of her high school team who competed at the 2023 Division I Ohio State High School Championships in February. She put Perry High School on the scoreboard by placing 15th in the 100 back (57.64) after dropping a full second in prelims to touch the wall with a new personal best time of 57.15.
Less than a month later, she was victorious in the 50 fly (25.61) at the Great Lakes YMCA Zone Championships, finishing half a second ahead of the next-fastest swimmer.
Baker also placed 2nd in 100 back (57.45), 3rd in 50 free (24.05), 6th in 100 fly (58.69), and 8th in 200 IM (2:14.14) at the zone meet in Geneva, Ohio. These performances marked an improvement of more than a second-and-a-half in the 100 fly and 200 IM as well as a drop of a tenth in the 50 free.
Then, at the 2023 YMCA Short Course Nationals in April, Baker lowered her personal best times again in the 100 back (56.89) and 100 fly (58.52).
Top SCY Times
- 50 free – 24.05
- 100 free – 52.67
- 100 back – 56.89
- 100 breast – 1:11.18
- 100 fly – 58.52
- 200 IM – 2:14.14
The Division I St. Bonaventure Bonnies compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference and are led by head coach Mike Smiechowski. At the 2023 A-10 Championships, St. Bonaventure placed 9th out of a field of 11 women’s teams.
With a year and a half still ahead of her to continue improving, Baker’s best time in the 100 back (56.89) is already within a second of the 55.92 that took 16th in prelims and qualified for finals at last season’s championships.
Only Bonnies senior Allison Lenda and freshman Eylul Alli swam faster in the championship meet, and Lenda was the lone qualifier for 100 back finals. She placed 12th (55.57) overall. Alli finished prelims in 21st (56.55).
Lenda also split a 50 back (25.58) personal best in the lead-off leg of the 200 medley relay which earned 8th place and 22 points for St. Bonaventure. Baker’s current 50 back (26.58) is exactly a second away from Lenda’s best time, and it is faster than Lenda’s best time (27.31) in high school.
Baker is also poised to make an impact on the 200 free relay; her 50 free (24.05) is about a half-second off the matching 23.50 splits that Ellie Kraus and Amy O’Rourke contributed to the 5th place 200 free relay at the 2023 A-10 Championships.
Kraus and O’Rourke will have graduated by the time Baker’s recruiting class arrives on campus.
So far, St. Bonaventure’s roster reload for 2025 features swimmers who specialize in distance free with some strokes in the mix: Cameron Darnell (fly) from Newport News, Va., and sisters Grace Purtell (IM/breast) and Zoe Purtell (IM), from San Antonio, Texas.
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Let’s go Bonnie’s!!!