Lou Walker is keen to take some in-season trips – especially if it is a tropical vacation that happens to benefit his team.

This year, that foray took Walker and the Syracuse swimming and diving team to Puerto Rico. From Jan. 3 to Jan. 13, SU trained for up to five hours per day in a large, 10-lane pool where Walker created specialized workouts to benefit each individual swimmer. It is an environment that offers the Orange amenities it doesn’t have 1,800 miles away inside Flanagan Gymnasium.

After SU’s first meet since the return trip to Central New York, one individual seems to have benefited more than anyone else from the non-stop laps under the sun — Ben Santerre.

‘We did a lot of long-course swimming, which is twice as big as the pool that we swim at here,’ Santerre said of the practices in Puerto Rico. ‘So it was a lot of conditioning and boosting your heart rate for swimming a longer time. When you come back here, you are just ready to go for it, and it’s a lot easier to swim short-course after coming off that training period.’

Since his time in Puerto Rico, Santerre racked up top-five finishes in the 400 and 800 freestyle while also swimming a leg of the 200 freestyle relay two weeks ago in Providence, R.I.

It was a step up for the senior swimmer from his performances before the 10-day Puerto Rico trip, when he competed at the Bucknell Open against some of the nation’s best teams. At the meet in early December, Santerre had two top 15 finishes in the 500 and 1650 freestyle.

But Santerre’s standout performances of the past few weeks aren’t entirely new for Walker and the SU program. Santerre has been one of the team’s top swimmers since he came to campus four years ago.

‘He came from a good program, meaning he had been in and had the experience of quality training,’ Walker said. ‘Coming out of a good program, he had gone to a lot of high-quality meets, so he had been in and around a lot of high-quality competition.’

During his career at Syracuse, Santerre has qualified for the Big East championship every year, competing in the 1650 freestyle all three years.

His numbers are even more impressive when considering SU’s situation now – the swimming and diving program is in its second-to-last year in existence – and the scenario the program’s situation put Santerre in three years ago as a freshman.

As a recruit out of Glendale, Ariz., Santerre pledged to Walker and the Orange, assuming his commitment was just like any other to a big-time swim program. A year later, though, after hearing the ensuing news of the program’s phaseout, Santerre had to make a decision.

To stay or go. He chose to stay.

‘When they cut our program, the worst part was knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to swim for all four years,’ Santerre said. ‘So when they went back and decided to give us that opportunity I took advantage of it, and I haven’t looked back since then.’

With just one meet remaining in Santerre’s career before the Big East tournament from Feb. 17 to 20, the senior remains steadfast with that mindset. Just like the other 19 remaining swimmers and divers donning SU orange, he is content with where his career has gone during his time at Syracuse – whether it be inside the cramped confines adjacent to the Carrier Dome or gazing into the tropical sun while doing backstrokes.

‘Nothing ever told me to go to another school,’ Santerre said. ‘And nothing ever told me that I wanted to quit, either.

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on January 25, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13