It’s always special for a collegiate sports team when you witness one of your players work hard and go about their business to achieve so much. The women’s swim team believes they have found a swimmer that they can count on to lead the team for the next two years.
Christina Melchiorre, a sophomore at Cabrini College, has shown off her talents in the pool for the last two years for the swim team. In her first year at Cabrini, Melchiorre was named newcomer of the year by the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference and was named first team all conference in six different freestyles. Melchiorre also set program records in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle.
Melchiorre is from Vorhees, N.J. and attended high school at Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Newfield, N.J. The first team all conference swimmer believe it or not had no high school swimming experience. Melchiorre got her swimming talents from being part of a club team while in high school.
“Cindy contacted me about swimming for Cabrini and I felt like it was a great opportunity for me,” said Melchiorre.
Cindy Ikeler, the head coach for both the men and women’s swim team at Cabrini, said Melchiorre is a very hardworking and driven person. She has high expectations for herself and everyone around her and she is constantly working towards her goals both academically and athletically.
Melchiorre’s coaches not only respect who she is as an athlete but the way she goes about herself as a person. Her teammates and coaches look at her as a leader of the team the way she practices and the way she competes in big meets. Her coach is more impressed with how she has improved as a student at Cabrini.
“Christina works hard both in and out of the classroom and has made continued improvement as a student here at Cabrini. As an athlete she is extremely focused, dedicated and detail oriented. She has been a big player on the team the past two seasons and holds herself to a high standard,” said Ikeler.
Balancing academics and athletics in college can be difficult for most athletes. Melchiorre’s work ethic and commitment is a reason why she has seen success in swimming in her first two years at Cabrini. The swim program at Cabrini is excited to watch Melchiorre progress as a student athlete for the next two years at Cabrini.
“She is very focused and driven and she fights for her goals every day at practice. She understands the amount of sacrifice and work that’s required to reach the level of swimming that she’s aiming for and she attacks practice and meets in efforts to achieve her goals,” said Ikeler.
“Christina is a good example of hard work and drive, so it’s easy to coach her. She challenges me to be better as a coach in order to make her better, but I like that,” Ikeler said.
