Feb. 14, 2007

The Student-Athlete of the Week allows fans to learn more about the student-athletes who represent St. Bonaventure University. This week's question-and-answer session is with Chris Ekimoff, a senior from Rochester, N.Y., who specializes in distance freestyle events. Ekimoff is a key leader for a Bonnies team that will attempt to defend its Atlantic 10 Conference championship Feb. 21-24 in Buffalo. P> At what point did you decide you wanted to swim at the collegiate level?

When I was four or five I had always taken swimming lessons to learn how to swim, and my parents wanted me to get involved a little bit more and learn the four competitive strokes. I have a brother who is a couple years older than me who swam in Rochester, so I started swimming too. I played all sports in middle school and when 10th grade rolled around it was just baseball and swimming. By that year I had become a lot more successful in swimming and really separated myself from a lot of the guys I had grown up swimming with. I wasn't really seeing success in baseball. Swimming is a sport where you have to train for multiple years, so it became time for me to decide if I was going to keep playing baseball or get serious about swimming. I started swimming year-round in 10th grade.

Your mom passed away due to cancer while you were in high school ... how did that experience impact you and shape who you are? Did you ever consider giving up swimming because of what your family went through? What inspiration does she still provide you?

When I was in 10th grade, she was diagnosed with cancer and went through chemo-therapy treatments. In fall of my sophomore year she was declared 100% remission and all the cancer was gone. When spring rolled around, she was still feeling a little sick, and the cancer came back in the summer. All through my junior year she was in a hospital bed in our family room. There came a point in March where we sat down as a family and decided that the quality of life really wasn't what she was looking for anymore and that it would be the best for us if we discontinued treatment and let things take their course. On April 14th, 2001, she passed away. It was really tough to make that decision and know that she would be gone soon. She told me before she died that she wanted me to excel in academics and athletics and in everything ... and that's something I've really taken to heart. We all know that she is still here in heart and that's something that I take with me. To realize the impact that she has had on my family and the community as a whole is so much greater.

How is teamwork an important aspect of swimming at the college level?

We have days where we come in and swim easy after a big meet and that's where you really notice the difference between what people think about swimming as a team sport and what it actually is. It is really hard to swim for two hours with nobody else there. We all remind each other that we're here to compete at the highest level and hopefully bring home an A-10 championship and accomplish personal goals. You understand that you're there for yourself but also for other guys who need you there.

What was the feeling like last February when the team won the A-10 championship and all the hours of practice finally paid off?

We look at it as we're here to be students, and the first thing we have to take care of is academics. Coach will always say academics first, then athletics, then everything else. The whole friendship part of the team and being classmates is what comes first on a team. However, for us to go through a six-year drought without a (Atlantic 10) victory as a team was necessary from a learning aspect and for coach to learn what was necessary for the team to win. To have it all pay off is extremely rewarding. It's something that we can talk about 10 or 20 years down the road, but I think the lessons that we learned would not be lost if we hadn't won.

What are your thoughts on going into this year's A-10?

You have to explain to people who ask this question that swimming is very cut and dry. You're not just going to go out in the fourth quarter and make 10 three-pointers to win. Since it's a sport that is based on the clock, there's always room for improvement. You always look for little victories and little improvements, and we definitely have a lot of room for that since we lost a lot of people last year. We've had a bunch of guys step up and it will be a fun meet no matter what we finish.

Is there a lot of pressure knowing that the season comes down to four days?

It is. The big word we like to use is delayed gratification. We have to spend time now in order for it to pay off later, and it happens sometimes and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I'll get really nervous about it if someone asks me how I'm going to do in A-10's this year. I'll tell them it's going to go well and later I'll sit down and think about it and start shaking. Having six months coming down to four days when you get to this point is a lot of pressure. There's only one thing you can do and that's make sure you keep your goggles on when you hit the water. Right now you can only make withdrawals, because all the deposits have been made.

Are you going to miss swimming?

I'm going to miss it so much that I'm going to come around next year to hang out at the pool. There's nothing else in our lives that we've done as much as swimming. To take two to four hours out of your day, it's scary. It's going to be really hard being gone and I don't think I'll be able fight the competitive itch when I leave. There are other things I want to do like music and other hobbies and just focusing on schoolwork. I'm going to be missing the wetness. But I will be back (at St. Bonaventure) as a grad student in accounting and also as an assistant coach. I think that will be a great way for me to give back.