Senior Isobel Anderegg signed her letter of intent on Monday, May 6, to participate in collegiate swimming at Alfred University next year.
Anderegg has been a member of the swim team for three years, competing at the District 4 Swimming Championships each year. Recently, she earned two top-10 finishes – fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.29) and sixth in the 100 freestyle (58.61) – helping the Lady Hornets finish in eighth place overall, the best result among independent teams this year.
“It's a small, beautiful campus, so I feel very safe. Also, because the campus is small, I've been able to build good relationships with my professors and actually ask questions. Overall, it's a good fit for me.”
Anderegg, who plans to major in psychology, became interested in Alfred University last year during her junior year when she learned about the university's psychology courses. During her visit, she spent time with staff in the psychology department and won an “Out Of The Ordinary” Junior Scholarship, the highest scholarship awarded by Alfred University.
“Alfred is so well-known for their psychology program and I felt the swim team was a great fit for me. It checked all my boxes. Swimming has been a big part of my life,” she added. “I've been swimming since I was seven and I can't imagine life without it. Swimming has literally shaped me as a person. It has taught me so much self-reliance, perseverance, motivation and self-discipline. I've also improved my communication and leadership skills by being team captain the past two years. It's been a lot of fun. Coach (Brian) Stryker at Alfred runs a great program and I can't wait to take my career to the next level and be a part of it.”
Anderegg knew she wanted to study psychology at college because Wellsboro College offers psychology courses.
“There are a lot of psychology-related electives. I took AP Psychology, dual enrolled, took Sociology, Introduction to Psychology. It really opened my eyes to the amount of courses Wellsboro offers and I realized I love psychology because of the variety.”
Coach Rebecca Dodson-Webster said, “Izzy was a very detail-oriented player who would come to practice asking questions like, 'How can I do this better?' and 'What can I do to do this particular thing?' She also had other teams. She got great instruction from the 'Y' team coach (Paul Kurtz) and worked with a lot of coaches and used that to her advantage, getting a lot of perspective. She's very organized, very dedicated and focused. She had goals and she worked hard to achieve them.”
Dodson-Webster also thinks Anderegg will “have a big impact” if he joins the program next year.
“We've been watching her closely to see where she fits. She has started taking visits early in the recruiting process and will find a good position on the team. I'm very proud of Izzy and our program. Our program has had many student-athletes who have had success in collegiate swimming over the years. She's another great product of this program.”
