At 17, Hannah Peña is the youngest member of the BMCC Women’s Swim team; 28-year-old Stacey Geoghegan, who is married with three small children and a teenage stepson, is the oldest. But when Peña, Geoghegan and their teammates are in the water, such superficial differences are irrelevant. “Anyway,” says Peña, “Stacey beats girls half her age.”
The Women’s Swim Team has just come off a strong season, with impressive showings in national, regional and CUNY-wide competitions. At the NJCAA Northwest District Championships in March, the relay team finished third three times and once in second to qualify for the National championships.
Diving back into her studies
“Competing in the Nationals was an intense experience,” says Geoghegan, who wound up breaking personal bests she’d set as a teenager. After quitting business school several years ago, Geoghegan helped her husband run his trucking business. When she decided to return to school, BMCC seemed a logical starting point. One day, she saw a notice inviting tryouts for the swim team.
“It piqued my curiosity,” she says. “I wondered if I still had it.” She did indeed, although juggling classes, childcare and a full schedule of swim meets was a challenge.
“My husband has been incredibly supportive,” she says. And swimming alongside much younger teammates? “It’s great,” she says. “We’re all different ages, all from different backgrounds, and all buddies. Joining the swim team has added a lot of diversity to my life.”
For Hannah Peña, the transition from high school to college was initially a source of concern. “When you get here, you find that people are much more focused and mature—and I wondered if that would be a problem for me.” It hasn’t been: Swimming competitively “lets you have one time in the day when you can have fun, work hard, and enjoy the experience of being part of a team,” she says.
A liberal arts major, Peña plans to pursue a degree in international relations or international business. “I’m very big on traveling and learning about other cultures and languages,” she says. “I guess the fact that I got an A in French and a B English tells you something about me!”
Dubbed “the Protector” by her teammates, Angelica Lescano has always participated in competitive sports and was a standout performer on her high school wrestling team. “I’m small and compact, but also strong,” says. “I guess that’s how I got my nickname.” For Lescano, the opportunity to swim competitively has been exhilarating. “I love the competitive rush,” she says.
From the dance studio to the pool
Australian-born Jacqueline Smith emigrated to New York when she was 16 to pursue a career in ballet. “I studied with the Joffrey for two years and then spent a year and a half dancing with a ballet company before going back to school,” she says. At a friend’s recommendation, Smith enrolled in BMCC, where she is majoring in accounting. “I’ve always loved math and solving problems,” she says.
Swimming too has been a lifelong passion, albeit one she reluctantly gave up as a teenager because it took time away from ballet. She’s thrilled to be swimming again as a member of the BMCC Women’s Swim Team.
“At first, I swam just for fun, but I’ve really gotten into the competitive aspect of it,” Smith says. “But mostly, it just feels good,” she says. “You get a kind of runner’s high after a swim.”
