St. Bonaventure’s 2025 Recruiting Is Off to the Races with Addition of Cameron Darnell

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Cameron Darnell, a junior at Peninsula Catholic High School, has announced her verbal commitment to study and swim at St. Bonaventure University beginning in the fall of 2025. The move will take Darnell nearly 500 miles north of her family’s home in Newport News, Va.

The Coast Guard Blue Dolphins member told SwimSwam:

I am absolutely thrilled to announce my commitment to swim and study at St. Bonaventure University! I truly am thankful for my club coaches’ dedication to helping me improve over the past eleven years. I also could not ask for a more supportive family. Thanks Mom and Dad! I cannot wait to join Coach Mike, Coach Matt, and all of my future teammates at St. Bonaventure where I believe I have found my next home. I am so grateful for this opportunity! Go Bonnies!

At the Virginia Swimming Short Course Senior Championships last March, Darnell finished the 1650 free (17:49.25) in 20th place with a new personal best by 12 and a half seconds.

It was her second PB in the event as a sophomore and 30 seconds faster than her best time as a freshman.

Darnell also showed tremendous improvement by dropping almost six-tenths of a second in the 50 free (25.15) during her lead-off leg of the 200 free relay.

In addition to personal bests in the 50 and 1650 free, Darnell’s performance at the short course championships included a drop of more than two seconds in the 200 IM (2:10.19) and more than a second and a half in the 200 fly (2:09.76).

Top SCY Times

• 50 free – 25.15
• 100 free – 55.32
• 200 free – 1:58.15
• 500 free – 5:08.30
• 1000 free – 10:41.68
• 1650 free – 17:49.25
• 100 fly – 57.86
• 200 fly – 2:09.76
• 200 IM – 2:10.19
• 400 IM – 4:41.21

St. Bonaventure University, located in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., is a Division I program in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Bonnies are led by Mike Smiechowski, who was named head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving in July 2022. He announced the addition of Matthew Lowe as associate head coach in June 2023.

The 2025-2026 class is the first one that the new Bonnies coaching staff had the opportunity to recruit starting on day one, June 15, when the NCAA allows DI coaches to begin contacting high school athletes.

Darnell announced her commitment on social media soon after in September, which was early in the recruiting process for DI mid-major teams in general and nearly a year earlier than the Bonnies received their first public commitment for 2024 by Phoebe McClaren in August.

A week after Darnell’s announcement, the next three 2025 verbal commitments rolled in from Sophie Baker, a native of Canton, Ohio, and sisters Grace Purtell and Zoe Purtell, from San Antonio, Texas.

With a full year and a half remaining before their class joins the roster, Darnell’s 1650 free is already faster than any of the team’s performances last season or thus far this season.

Her training group is likely to include 2024 commits McClaren, whose current best time in the 1650 free is 17:02.08, and Alessandra Ren, a recruit from Brazil with a 17:38.64 converted time.

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