This Saturday, Rowan women’s swimming & diving will take on the United States Merchant Marine Academy as they bid their seniors goodbye in their season’s final home meet. Captain Kylie Salerno while be among those seniors honored during their Senior Day.
Salerno, who comes from Castleton, NY, was a graduate of Maple Hill High School. Ever since high school, she has had a tendency her best swimming times at big meets. Her career at Maple Hill proved this, as she made it to states twice while there.
She brought this with her when she joined Rowan’s team, and showed this off in the two Metropolitan Conference (METS) Championships she has competed in. This is especially true when she placed in the top three at the meet in the 100 Freestyle event.
This year’s METs Championships are right around the corner and Salerno is hoping to have even more success than she has ever before.
“Honestly, [METS] maybe just a little differently coming off COVID,” Salerno said. “I mean, I’m a lot more excited and a lot more ready just to wrap it up. It’s my last METS and it’s really exciting. Just the usual, ready to get to it.”
Her career is not only capitalized by her performances in big meets, but also the hard work and dedication she puts in and out of the pool.
As a freshman, she would swim mid-distance along with the backstroke, but soon realized her better times would be in sprint event. Keeping the backstroke in the list of her specialties, Salerno explained the process of how that happened.
“I just knew coming into it I was a sprinter for sure,” Salerno said. “I was in mid maybe for a day, maybe a week, I can’t remember, but it just wasn’t where I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to be sprinting and I just had done that all throughout high school and I just felt I was more comfortable with it.”
Once she made that move, her career took off. In 2018-19 she was a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) All-Conference Honorable Mention for the 100 Backstroke, was a part of the All-Conference First Team for the 400 Freestyle Relay, Second Team for the 200 Freestyle Relay and was a Rowan Scholar-Athlete.
In 2019-20 her NJAC All-Conference performances continued in the 100 backstroke.
Salerno puts in the hard work for the team and herself, in and out of the pool. As this is her final season as a Prof, she expresses her gratefulness for the team choosing her to be one of their leaders.
“It means so much to me,” Salerno said. “Obviously, it’s an honor, just like my teammates to nominate me as a captain and even just being a senior going through my years on this team. It’s been such a crazy road and the usual– can’t believe that it’s already coming to an end, but I’m just so grateful for the time that I’ve gotten to be here and the time that I’ve been with the team and the people that you meet in the connections that you’ve built just our unmatched.”
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