PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Cindy Ikeler has been the head men’s and women’s swimming coach at Division III Cabrini University in Radnor for a decade.
On her watch, the Cavaliers have emerged as premier programs in the Atlantic East Conference, winning six combined conference titles in the last four years.
“I am proud of what we built as a whole,” said Ikeler on the latest edition of the 1-on-1 with Matt Leon podcast. “We went from barebone rosters, a sport that really nobody cared about, to now having a team that has a very positive reputation on campus and off-campus that is successful.”
Many championship-winning college swim coaches aren’t also asked to be in charge of all aquatics and athletics safety at their school. Ikeler takes on those responsibilities as well.
“I oversee all of the lifeguards, other activities that happen in the pool and pool scheduling, and as the Director of Safety, I am responsible for making sure all of our athletic department staff is certified in CPR, AED, and first aid. So it is a balance,” she said.
“It can be tough sometimes when things pull you in either direction. But fortunately about three years ago, we brought on a full-time assistant coach that really helps that balance be possible.”
Ikeler grew up swimming, sometimes working out three times a day for school and club teams before swimming at Albright College in Readying, graduating in 2005.
She later became the assistant swim coach and assistant aquatics director there, helping Albright win five conference titles between the men’s and women’s teams, though it took time for her to figure out she was called to be a collegiate swimming coach.
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“it wasn't until a few years into coaching, honestly, maybe three years as a full-time assistant at Albright that we took a kid to the NCAA Championships,” she said.
“It was sort of, as cliche as it is, stepping out on that deck and seeing that level of swimming. It kind of clicked that this is what I want to do. And I want to be here at this meet someday with a team of my own. So that's probably when it clicked for me.”
Listen to Ikeler describe much more about her competitive swimming and coaching careers, including how she shepherded her teams through the COVID-19 pandemic, in our 1-on-1 with Matt Leon podcast below.