Player Profile: Ben Nanna

A senior freestyle, Ben Nanna, who is originally from Westfield, N.J., loves the time he spends in and outside the pool with his teammates.

With a comical personality, his teammates enjoy his jokes.

“Besides Ben being a good swimmer, he is good at making me laugh,” Rocco Del Monte IV, freshman communication major, said.

Nanna wants the people around him to enjoy themselves.

Stephanie Coleman, a freshman exercise science and health promotion major also agrees, “Out of the pool the team enjoys his comic relief.”

He always knew how to swim well and decided to join the  Men and Women’s swimming team this season for the first time. The encouragement of two teammates helped him with his final decision.

“I always admired this sport, so I took the initiative and just joined,” Nanna said.

Throughout his time at  Westfield Senior High School he ran cross country but never has he joined a swim team.

Transforming into a competitive swimmer from just an ordinary swimmer only knowing the basics, Nanna worked very hard and had to learn everything.

“He has really become a better swimmer since he started,” Del Monte said.

Getting prepared for a meet consists of swimming many laps eight times, six days a week, drinking a lot of water and eating a lot of protein.

“It isn’t that bad making sure that I eat correctly,” Nanna said.

“I find Ben to be a determined swimmer who is a positive role model not only to me but to the rest of the new swimmers on the team,” Coleman said. “He has a caring heart making all swimmers feel like we are part of a team. He affectionately calls the freshmen swimmers on the team his little tadpoles.”

When Nanna is not swimming or doing school work he likes to hang out with his friends, which also include his teammates. Nanna thinks of his teammates as a family.

“My teammates are terrible! No, they are really the most unique people I have ever met,” Nanna joked.

As an English major, Nanna is heavily involved in the  English department. He helps out with planning events and getting students involved with the activities and opportunities the department has to offer.

Nanna has enjoyed writing for the symposiums throughout the years he has been here and it has given him the chance to have his writings viewed by others.

Graduating in May is exciting for him and in the future he would like to be a published writer.

“I just want people to read my writings,” Nanna said.

Like many of his fellow peers, he is nervous to graduate, and will miss the college life because he has made life-long friends at Cabrini.

He enjoys the time that he has spent at Cabrini, as well as the experiences that he has gained.

“I would never regret my choice in coming here,” Nanna said. “It’s what you make of it! You learn to find people that are most important to you.”

“We’re all Olympians,” Nanna said. “I think you do things at the time you feel you need to. I really admire the team for accepting me and I am grateful.”