Indian River’s Tryshia Centeno Named NJCAA Female Athlete of the Year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, July 10. FOLLOWING one of the most impressive seasons in the history of NJCAA swimming, Indian River State College (Fla.) sophomore Tryshia Centeno was named the 2012 Betty Jo Graber Award winner. The Graber Award is presented annually to the top female student-athlete in the NJCAA.

“I'm really proud,” Centeno said. “It is so awesome. It shows that the hard work that we put in during our training really paid off.”

Centeno enjoyed an abundance of success in 2012, claiming seven titles at the NJCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. Playing vital roles in Indian River State's four relay championships, the breaststroke specialist led the Pioneers to victory in the 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. Individually, Centeno won the 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley.

“My favorite memory is definitely from this year's nationals,” Centeno said. “It was awesome being in our home town. Last year was my freshman year, so it was different and this year I knew what was coming and was prepared for it.”

Cementing her place in the NJCAA record books, Centeno set seven NJCAA records during her sophomore season. At the championship meet alone, Centeno broke four records including — the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.81), 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.48), 200-yard individual medley (2:01.20) and the 400-yard medley relay (3:42.95).

“It's also about the amount of work that she put in,” said Indian River State head coach Ryan Mallam. “She's probably the hardest trainer on the team. She never settles and always thinks she can do better. Even after breaking records, she'd be disappointed because she always thought that she could swim faster.”

Centeno's performance at the championship meet led to her being named the 2012 NJCAA Female Swimmer of the Year. Across the course of her two-year career at Indian River State, Centeno earned 11 national championships and was an 11-time NJCAA All-American. Centeno was also recognized for her sportsmanship with the 2012 Indian River State College Women's Swimming Pioneer Pride Award.

Translating her success in the pool to success in the classroom, Centeno accumulated a 3.56 grade-point average as a Pioneer and received the Indian River State College Top 10% Student-Athlete Award.

“Since I was little, I've always been focused on academics,” Centeno said. “My parents would always push me to get good grades and to succeed in sports.”

A native of Puerto Rico, Centeno first obstacle to overcome when she arrived at Indian River State was the language barrier.

“When I first sat down with her, her English wasn't that strong,” Mallad said. “That was a challenge in itself — being able to communicate our ideas on what she would need to improve on it order to swim as fast as she could. She not only worked hard physically, but she worked really hard understanding what we were telling her. That is what set her apart from everyone else and led to her success.”

Continuing her swimming career in the NCAA, Centeno will head to Auburn next season. After watching her develop into a star at the junior-college level over the past two seasons, Mallam is confident that Centeno will continue to succeed as a Tiger.

“She's going to keep putting in the work and dropping those times,” Mallam said. “The numbers that she's going to put up are going to be even more impressive as the years go by.”

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x