As Leah Fiorentino ’76, EdD prepares to be inducted into the Stony Brook Athletics Hall of Fame on October 21, she reflects in SB Matters on how her time as a student-athlete shaped her career and role as a mother.
As a national championship-level swimmer in high school, Fiorentino joined Stony Brook’s all-male swim team as the university’s first competitive female swimmer, and in doing so, she paved the way for other collegiate female athletes.
During her time on the Stony Brook swim team, she was the first woman to medal at the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Swimming Association Championships, won the 1,000-meter freestyle against a field of men and, in 1974, was part of the record-setting 800-meter freestyle relay team. She graduated with a psychology degree, has had a successful career in higher education and is now a sport business professor at Jacksonville University’s Davis College of Business.
In addition to supporting Stony Brook’s Swimming and Diving program as part of the Ramsey Leadership Society, she is the executive director of the National Collegiate Equestrian Association, which champions the emerging sport of NCAA Equestrian and its many female athletes at universities around the country.
Read the full interview on SB Matters.
Exceedingly well deserved! Leah inspired, motivated, and lead the team to several metropolitan championships. She won many races and her example made those around her better, perhaps the key attribute of real all-stars.