Caitlin McGregor is a senior from Sinking Spring, PA, that has been on Iona’s swimming and diving team, water polo team and is also in the Honors Program. She has been a top scorer for the swim team and helped lead the women’s water polo team to the NCAAs last year.

 

When did you first start to swim competitively and what got you started?

I started swimming competitively at age 4.  My mom is a swim coach and my older brother and sister swam, so it was basically a family tradition.

Which sport do you like better and why? Water polo or swimming?

I like water polo better than swimming.  I think I enjoy the team aspect of water polo more.  While swimming is a team sport, unless you are in a relay, your individual events are exactly what they say, individual.

In water polo, you get to rely on your teammates and really have a team bond.  Also, water polo is simply more fun than swimming because it is a game. This means something is always happening during practice and during games, while in swimming you spend your whole time going up and down the pool.

What are your goals for this upcoming swim season?

This swim season, like any swim season, I would like to beat my own best times.  This is more difficult the older I get because girls usually peak in high school, but I like the challenge.  I would also like the team to place higher at our MAAC championships. 

What is your favorite memory on Iona’s swim team?

My favorite memory on Iona’s swim team is hands down our training trip in Puerto Rico last year.  The trip was pretty dramatic and the team responded to this drama by really pulling together.  The boys’ and girls’ teams have never been as close as they were in Puerto Rico last year and that just made the training trip so much more successful.

What is the weirdest prerace ritual you have seen somebody do before a race?

I once had a teammate who had to eat exactly four bites of an energy bar exactly a half an hour before a race otherwise she would freak out.  I don’t know if that qualifies as weird, but it was pretty strange to me.

How do you manage two sports, your workload with the Honors Program and student teaching?

It takes a lot of time management and a lot of give and take between the four things.  Sometimes I am forced to prioritize and not give my full effort to a particular sport or program that particular day, but I try to give full effort everywhere as much as I can. I am lucky to have pretty understanding coaches, professors and supervisors who recognize how much I have going on.  Mostly though, it just means a lot of long nights and very little sleep.  But I hate to hear that I can’t do something, so I just make it happen.

Have you ever thought about coaching before?

I have absolutely thought about coaching before and actually coached a club team during the summer in my hometown, and I have coached alongside my mom for years.

Since I am going to be a teacher, coaching a high school or club team basically goes hand in hand, which is lucky for me.  Coaching water polo is absolutely something I will do for the rest of my life.