Dante Buonadonna is creating a pair of masterpieces.
The first is his outstanding junior season for the Saint Augustine Preparatory School’s swimming team. The other is still in the planning stages, but it also figures to be a work of art.
“I’m painting an art mural at my school in the next few months,” Buonadonna said. “Ever since middle school, I always liked to draw.”
Buonadonna will work on the mural this spring with a handful of his classmates while most kids are on spring break. He decided to forgo traveling this year to start the mural.
“You get to pick a third semester trip for our school, almost like a vacation, to different states or different countries,” Buonadonna said. “But I chose to paint an art mural at the school instead. I’m actually planning the design with my teacher right now. I’ve been brainstorming.”
Swimming, however, doesn’t take much brainstorming for Buonadonna, who has been racing in the pool since an early age. He’s become one of the best all-around swimmers in the South Jersey scholastic scene.
“I started swimming when I was about 4. My whole family – my aunts, my uncles, my dad – they all swam under the same coach, so they brought me and all my cousins into swimming,” he said. “It was more of a fun thing every summer. But it started to get more serious as I got older.”
Buonadonna has a pair of goals – to be the best in the state and to be the best in his family. He’s getting close to both.
“My uncle [Brett Buonadonna] went to Indiana [University] so he’s still number one,” Buonadonna said. “But I’m trying to get there.”
On Jan. 21, at the South Jersey Interscholastic Swimming Association Coaches’ Invitational at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology, he took a major step toward both initiatives. Buonadonna won the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. He also paced the Hermits to victory in the 400 freestyle relay, which broke a meet record. Saint Augustine finished atop the Boys A Division standings, which includes the largest schools in South Jersey.
“I’m proud of all my teammates,” Buonadonna said. “I came into this just wanting to do well in the relays. This year, we have a really good group of guys, especially some of the seniors. The underclassmen are really strong this year, so I’m looking forward to states and everything else in the future.”
Saint Augustine won the Coaches’ Invitational for the first time since 2014, ending a six-year streak by Cherry Hill East. There was no Invitational meet in 2021 or 2022 due to the pandemic.
The Hermits had a top-five finish in 10 of 11 events. Michael McCarthy joined Buonadonna as an individual winner after taking first in the 500 freestyle, while teammate Anthony Mortellite finished third. Mortellite finished ahead of McCarthy in the 200 free as they ended up second and fourth, respectively.
Cole Jennings took third in the 100 breast and fourth in the 200 IM, Trevor Nolan finished third in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free, Jonah Alvarez snagged fifth in the 100 butterfly and Parker Lapsley took fifth in the 50 free. The Hermits also won the 200 free relay with a meet record time and finished second in the 200 medley relay.
Buonadonna said he knew his team would be prepared. After a weight room session and a two-hour practice in the morning for his swim club team, he wasn’t sure how he would perform at the meet.
“It was a bonus winning those two races. I didn’t know how my times were going to be. I definitely used the guys around me to push myself to get through it,” he said.
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