Karleigh Kessler '17 Recruiting Profile

I am a competitive swimmer looking to pursue a childhood dream of swimming in college. My journey into swimming started at age nine when I began swimming for my neighborhood summer swim team. By age 11 swimming had sparked my interest enough that I started swimming for the local YMCA team. In addition to my YMCA club team I also competed in USA sanctioned meets. This lead up to high school, and the challenges that came with it. My past three high school seasons have proved to be challenging, but also very rewarding. My first two high school seasons I was the only swimmer on my swim team. This is known as being an independent. This past season another female swimmer joined the team doubling our numbers, and it turned out to be an amazing season. This situation of becoming an independent for my high school has greatly impacted my life. I had to overcome many obstacles such as getting out of my comfort zone, and gaining self-confidence to take this leap on my own. I did not have a team, or a coach, to push me to do better or even go to practice. I learned to be disciplined and dedicated and do what was necessary to see improvement in my times. Yes, it is true I love having a team similar to my summer league, but sometimes we just have to go out and do it for ourselves. Despite my unique situation I have managed to still have fun and have successful swim seasons throughout my high school career. My goal is to swim in college for a team that will challenge me, and improve my swimming ability even further. I’ve been looking forward to college, and I can’t think of any better way to enjoy my time in school than to include swimming in the picture as well.

On the other hand, academically, my passion is for genetics. I am not only looking for a college that challenges me in swimming, but also in academics. I have always been driven in the classroom, and in the pool. As a student athlete I had to make very wise decisions. One of those decisions would be maintaining, and improving, my classroom achievements. Being on my high school’s honor roll every year of my high school career continues to be one of my many accomplishments. As well as, maintaining my GPA at, or above, a 4.0 which continues to be my biggest priority every quarter. These accomplishments do not come easy, especially when we add in a sport. However, these accomplishments keep myself on track and toward my ultimate goal, swimming in college.