Courtesy: St. Bonaventure Athletics
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y.—The St. Bonaventure University women’s swimming and diving program adds seven members in the 2023 recruiting class.
Coach Mike Smiechowski spoke of the additions to the women’s teams saying, “Our Women’s program was built under the foundation of championship expectations and success, they have a rich tradition dating back to the first year of existence. I am incredibly excited about this class of Women and what they can bring to this program. The current core of returners have put this program into a position to climb back into the top of the conference by their commitment and hard work. This group of incomers puts us in a position for our women’s program take the next step from a rebuilding program to a threat to compete at the top of the conference every year.”
Anna Beth Blankenship comes to the Bonnies as a transfer from George Mason. The Atlanta, Georgia native is a five-time GHSA gold medalist, a four-time silver medalist, and a seven-time first team all-state pick. Blankenship was also an All-American in the 200-medley relay. The sophomore will work toward a degree in sports media.
Career best times: 100 Breast (1:04.6), 200 Breast (2:23.7)
Anna Bojana Forján joins St. Bonaventure from Mezotur, Hungary. Forján swims the backstroke and freestyle. She earned Hungary’s Good Student and Good Athlete Award in 2021 and ranked in the top ten nationally in the 50 and 100 M backstroke in 2022.
Career best times: 100 Free SCM (56.86), 200 IM LCM (2:22.84), 200 Back LCM (2:19.24), 100 Back SCM (1:02.56)
St. Bonaventure diving welcomes Erin Castagnero. The Zelienople, Pa. Native was a 2023 WPIAL qualifier and three-year letter award recipient. She was a member of the National Honor Society and plans to major in health science.
Sydney Londergan joins the team as a transfer student from McMaster University. Londergan competes in both the 200M and 400M LCM IM. Londergan is a native of North Vancouver, British Columbia. Both of her parents attended St. Bonaventure and her mother was member of the swim team.
Career best times: 200 IM LCM (2:27.5), 400 IM LCM (5:09.9)
Maris Sadowski, a competitor in the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 back, is set to join St. Bonaventure this year. She brings many accolades to the team including PIAA state qualifier, USA Swimming Futures Championships qualifier, and owns the Spring-Ford High School record in the 100 backstroke. Sadowski is a native of Royersford, Pa. and plans to pursue a degree in Biology.
Career best times: 50 Free (24.3), 100 Free (53.6), 100 Back (58.1)
Emma Sauer enters the program from Hamburg, N.Y. Sauer earned a position on the podium in the NYSPHAA 200 free relay in 2021 and 2022. She holds Frontier High School’s records in the 200 free and 400 free relay and was a member of National Honor Society.
Career best times: 50 Free (25.25), 100 Free (55.38), 200 Free (2:01.57)
Joining St. Bonaventure from Zagreb, Croatia is Noa Marija Sertic. She has participated in two world championships in finswimming. She holds the Croatian national finswimming record in the 400 and was the Croatian finswimming national champion. She will major in psychology at St. Bonaventure.
Career best times: 400 Free LCM (4:31.3), 800 Free LCM (9:20.83), 1500 LCM (17:50.15)
I am finding it interesting how a lot more mid major schools have been recruiting. Between this article and the one For Rutgers, both schools have over half of there incoming women’s team as international. It looks as if it is trending much more in women’s programs. Are women’s programs enrollment down? I feel as if decades ago teams would recruit an international to fill a need, now it is becoming much more popular to fill enrollment roster spots. Are internationals a coaches preference? Does it come down to resources? Or is college women’s swimming in the Northeast becoming less popular? I hope this is not the case but would anyone have any thoughts or research on this?
When Power 5 rosters are 65+ people and they take every bit of domestic talent they can get, mid-majors get forced to take their already limited budget and spend on internationals to try remain competitive while also developing domestic athletes. We need roster limits in swimming and diving, at the very least it will increase parity and benefit domestic athletes financially #ROSTERLIMITS4S&D
3/7 internationals? Over half? Please show your work for that one