Big Ten Senior Spotlight: Greta Leberfinger of Rutgers University

The Big Ten will see a team compete at the conference championships for the first time next week as Rutgers University no longer competes in the American Athletic Conference. Although they are newcomers to the conference, the Scarlet Knights will be ready to make a statement immediately, and senior Greta Leberfinger will be a driving force behind the team’s charge.

Leberfinger hails from Chatham, New Jersey and though the Scarlet Knights will be competing in a new conference meet come next week, Greta is no stranger to changing environments. As a freshman, Leberfinger swam for Marist College, a small D1 school in Poughkeepsie, New York. She would make an immediate impact for the Red Foxes, establishing a new record in the 100 breast (1:02.17) when she took 2nd at the 2012 MAAC Championships. She would also win individual titles in the 200 breast (2:17.91) and the 200 yard IM (2:05.58), and Leberfinger also provided crucial legs to the winning 200 yard and 400 yard medley relays.

Leberfinger would join the Scarlet Knights the next year and it didn’t take long for the sophomore to make waves in the Big East scene. In her first Big East Championship meet, she would set a new school record in the 200 breast (2:13.97) on her way to taking 6th place overall. The record downed a two-year-old record of 2:15.33 previously held by Patrisha Averill.

Additionally, Leberfinger scored big heat points in the 100 breast with a 7th place overall finish (1:02.14), and she maintained her position from the preliminary session. She also contributed breaststroke legs to the 400 Medley Relay (3:40.52, 3rd place, new school record) and the 200 medley relay (1:41.32, 4th place).

As if her first two years were not impressive enough, Leberfinger kept the momentum rolling through her junior year. At the 2014 ECAC Championships, Greta would break Allyson Perrotti‘s recently set record of 2:13.70 in the 200 breast with a 2:13.06 of her own in prelims. She would go on to take second in finals. A week earlier, Leberfinger had also gone personal bests of 2:03.04 in the 200 IM and 1:02.04 in the 100 breast at the 2014 American Athletic Championships.

Greta has also shown her ability in long course swimming with multiple Olympic Trial cuts to her name. At the 2014 Summer National Championships, Leberfinger posted career bests in both breaststroke events, with times of 1:09.46 (19th) and 2:32.31 (23rd). Both of these swims easily clear the 2016 Olympic Trial Cuts of 1:11.49 and 2:34.99 in the 100 and 200 breast respectively.

With the days winding down until the 2015 Big Ten Championships kick off, the Scarlet Knights certainly have the element of surprise in their cards. With a swimmer like Greta Leberfinger on their roster, Rutgers can count on fast championship swims from their go-to breaststroker, and if her previous history is any indication of how she will perform during her final year, we may see a handful of records tumble along the way.

Best Times (SCY/LCM):
100 Breast: 1:02.04/1:09.46
200 Breast: 2:13.06*/2:32.31
200 IM: 2:03.04/2:22.68
400 IM: 5:03.16 (LCM)

*Denotes school record

School Major/Degree: Psychology/Education
Favorite Event: 200 Breaststroke
Favorite Hobby/Hidden Talent: Skiing/Tennis
Favorite Movie: Pay it Forward
Role Model Growing Up/ Person You’d Like to Meet: My dad is my role model. He is one of the strongest and toughest people I know. No matter what obstacles he’s faced, he has been able to overcome them with his strong work ethic and competitive spirit. He has taught me that I am capable of achieving anything I want with hard work and focus. His inspiration to me has always been, “As you practice, so you’ll play”. I would love to meet Chelsea Handler someday. I think she is hysterical.
Favorite Food/ Pre-Race Meal: Popcorn is my all-time favorite food. I usually have an egg and bagel sandwich before a meet, and Clif bars during a meet to keep me going.

At what age did you become involved with swimming? How did you get into it?

My older sister swam on our summer swim team and my mom was involved with the team so I was always hanging around the pool with them and the coaches. I started swimming on our summer team at six years old, but I didn’t start to actually compete until I was eight and by that time my sister was swimming on a YMCA team, so I decided to join as well.

What is your favorite collegiate swimming memory and why?

My favorite memory is when I was a freshman at Marist and we were competing at ECACs. It was 2012 and the Summer Olympics were that year so anyone that was close to a trial cut was invited down to Annapolis a day early to time trial long course and try to make a cut. I swam the 100 and 200 breaststroke in the morning and came really close in the 100. The rest of the team came down that afternoon and everyone came back to finals that night to watch me re-swim the 100. They were all on the side of the pool cheering for me and I made it! It was so exciting.

Rutgers hosted its inaugural Big Ten meet just a few weeks ago in its first year after having transitioned out of the American Athletic Conference. Additionally, you have already transferred schools before as you came from Marist College to Rutgers following your freshman year. Do you feel like all these changes you’ve undergone in college with respect to your competition has helped you see many different sides of collegiate swimming?

Absolutely. Marist was a smaller D1 school competing in the MAAC Conference. When I transferred to Rutgers, I immediately saw the difference in the level of competition and the training was a lot more demanding. As a large D1 school, they have on staff trainers, physical therapists, doctors, and counselors for the athletes. Rutgers has given me the opportunity to train and compete at a higher level than I was and mytimes have dropped as a result. A majority of the team stays at Rutgers and trains long course for the summer and compete in long course meets. I would not have had this opportunity if I stayed at Marist or any other small D1 school.

You had a great summer season with new bests in the 100 and 200 breasts, including a very narrow miss of a scoring swim in the 100 breast at the Summer Nationals Championships. Do you feel like that meet gave you some momentum to build upon for your senior year?

Yes it has. I dropped lots of time in both my events and qualified for two Olympic Trial cuts. This experience has boosted my confidence tremendously. I’m swimming better than I did at this time last year and it motivated me to continue to work harder towards my goal of making NCAA’s.

What/who do you think has been the single most important catalyst to your swimming career?

I think the fact that my parents encouraged me to play multiple sports growing up helped me from focusing too much on swimming and burning out. I played varsity tennis in high school so I didn’t commit full time to swimming until my junior year when I made the decision to swim in college. My parents supported me 100% and let me have fun with it. They are my biggest fans and I don’t think my father has ever missed a meet.

Do you have any plans/commitments following the completion of your collegiate career?

Yes. I’ve decided to take the year off from grad school and work to train for 2016 Olympic Trials. I discussed this with my parents and they fully support my decision.

What should we look forward to from Rutgers as a whole at this year’s Big Ten Championships?

I’m confident we’ll see lots of best times and good swims from everyone. We are all pumped to be competing in this conference and look forward to doing well after working so hard this year.