Last week, junior Haleigh Marzano of the women’s swimming and diving team was recognized for her stellar performances both in the water and in the classroom as she was selected to the Patriot League Academic All-League Team.

In order to be eligible, the student-athlete needed a GPA of 3.2 or higher and to be a standout in their sport. Due to a tie in voting, 11 student-athletes across the Patriot League were selected to the team this year instead of 10. Marzano was the only student-athlete selected from Lafayette.

“I was so flattered,” Marzano said. “I looked at the rest of the people that got chosen for this award, and I knew who all of the people on there were because they had really good performances at Patriots. I was like, ‘wow I can’t believe they chose me to be in this.’”

Marzano is a biochemistry major from Hillsdale, N.J., and an alum of Pascack Valley High School. She has been swimming since she was seven years old. Starting on a summer league team, she joined her first year-round club team when she was ten. In high school, she was on the school team and a club team.

“It was cool because the high school team was more of a team kind of sport, where the club team was very much individual with hard training,” she said. “When you come to college, it’s like a mix of the two, which I was very excited about coming in when I committed to Lafayette swim.”

Marzano said there were many different things that drew her to commit to Lafayette.

“I loved the rigorous academics and good athletics, but I really knew that I loved the school because of my coach Jim Dailey,” she said. “We automatically had such a great bond and we were both just really excited for the future. I couldn’t be happier now.”

Marzano was consistently a key performer for Lafayette this year.

In the East Stroudsburg University Dual Meet, she finished first in three solo events including the 200-yard medley (1:48.08), the 400-yard medley (3:58.1) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.65). 

Another dominating performance for Marzano came from the Lehigh Dual meet, where she also won three races. She won the 100-yard breaststroke (1:04.85), setting a school record for the event. She also won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:23.21) as well as the 100 yard IM (59.93), which was also a school record.

“My favorite moment in the season…was Lehigh. For me personally, it was a once-a-career kind of meet. I was very happy and it was so great doing it with all my teammates,” she said. “I won against Lehigh, which was crazy because they’re fantastic. I also got the school records and I got best times, which I hadn’t gotten in those events since I was a sophomore in high school.”

The team spends a lot of time together out of the water, emphasizing connections with the younger team members. The yearly winter training trip to Florida is something that always brings the team closer.

“The freshmen that came in this year and the sophomores I met for the first time this year are fantastic people all around. It was so great to train with them and get to know them,” she said. “We all knew each other in the fall, but it all really took off when we went to Florida. We had three practices a day, and it’s a lot but we as a team grew so close and we became so excited for championships.”

In the Patriot League Championships, she finished 13th in the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:20:07. In the 100-yard breaststroke, she finished 14th (1:05.39) and she was eighth in the 200-yard medley (1:46.72).

When she’s not competing, Marzano works as a teacher’s assistant for General Chemistry and does research in the chemistry department.

“I do research with Heidi Hendrickson. I’m in a computational chemistry lab, which is awesome,” she said. “I’m looking into M.D. Ph.D. programs, so like medical school, but you also get your Ph.D. I want to go into medical research.”

Although her junior season is over, Marzano continues to hone in on her skills alongside her teammates.

“We all have this common goal that even though it’s offseason technically now, we all want to swim and train and go to the gym together to be ready for next year. We’re not treating this as an offseason, which is amazing,” she said. “I’m just excited to continue this great opportunity.”