ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Matt Goettler can’t get away from the competition, so he lives with it.

Literally.

The Butler resident and St. Bonaventure University sophomore swimmer rooms with fellow sophomore teammate Preston Schilling.

The two join junior Matthew Schutt in battling for action on the team in the breast stroke.

“They are so close in skill level and they’re constantly pushing each other,” St. Bonaventure coach Sean McNamee said. “Sometimes, they get a little volatile with each other.

“All in all, those guys have handled it well and they’ve all gotten better as a result.”

It paid off for Goettler recently at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships. He won the 100-yard breaststroke in 54.85 seconds despite competing in Lane 1.

Schilling finished second with a time of 54.93.

“It was really close,” Goettler said. “It’s hard to win from that outside lane. But the heats were close and I knew I had a shot.”

Goettler did not get a shot at swimming a leg on the Bonnies 200-yard medley relay as Schilling nosed him out for the spot.

“Preston had the fastest time among our guys in the individual event, so he got the relay spot,” McNamee said. “When we have multiple swimmers who can fill that role, we let the times decide who gets it.

“Once Matt came back and won the 100 breast, he got the spot in the 400 (medley) relay.”

And he made the most of it.

Goettler joined Michael Pilyugin, Michael White and Viacheslav Shchukin to swim the 400 relay in 3 minutes, 12.90 seconds. That broke the Atlantic 10 record.

“That was pretty cool,” Goettler said. “Doing that with my teammates was a great way to end the season.”

Goettler was home-schooled in Butler and did not attend or graduate from any school in the district. He swam for Butler High School for two years and for the Fox Chapel Killer Whales in USA Swimming.

Goettler trained at the S.P.I.R.E Institute while attending the Kent State-Ashtabula campus before winding up at St. Bonaventure.

He is majoring in sports studies.

“This is a small Division I school and you get a lot of attention from teachers in classes,” he said. “And the team atmosphere here is fantastic.

“Our swim team is half the size of most teams at the larger state schools. You get to know your teammates a lot better.”

Goettler placed fifth in the 200 breaststroke at the conference meet, again edging out his teammate Schilling, who took sixth.

“Those guys will battle each other for the next two years,” McNamee said. “They respect each other as competitors and they obviously get along well.”

Goettler said they even push each other at team practices.

“It gets pretty intense,” he admitted. “Everybody wants to win.”

McNamee referred to both as “vocal, positive leaders, underclassmen who lead by example.”

Finding room for Goettler, Schilling and Schutt in the lineup can be a problem for the coach.

He doesn’t mind it at all.

“Those guys are virtually interchangeable and we can succeed with any of them in the pool,” McNamee said. “I wish I had that kind of problem in every event.”