STONY BROOK, N.Y. – For junior
Sara Chin (Long Beach, Calif.), her road to Stony Brook could be considered the one less traveled by considering a couple of factors. One of these, simply put, is the fact that she strayed far from home – nearly 3,000 miles to be exact.
Chin left the friendly, sunny confines of Southern California to have her student-athlete experience on the complete opposite side of the country. While that in and of itself can literally be interpreted as "the road less traveled," what really stands out about her journey to Long Island is the fact that her recruitment process was very non-traditional in comparison to thousands of other prospective student-athletes across the nation.
Prior to Chin's arrival, the swimming and diving program had taken a five-year hiatus due to the team's pool undergoing renovations. Chin's freshman season would happen to be the first year back for the program, so as her recruitment process was unfolding, there was no current team in existence for her to meet. As a result, her official visit was kept to the bare minimum: meet the head coach and walk around campus.
Despite the informal visit and the uncertainty of the direction the program was headed, Chin took a gamble and decided to make the East Coast her new home.
"Academically, I knew this was a good school and I wanted to come here for that, but I also knew that I wanted to swim and that was a big part of my decision as well," Chin said. "I flew out here and met the previous coach and ultimately took a chance with athletics."
Considering the circumstances, Chin went through a lot of ups and downs her freshman year. But it was these growing pains that allowed her to grow both in and out of the pool and shape her to become the person and swimmer she is today two years later.
"Personally, I've grown physically and mentally," Chin acknowledged. "Last season I swam best times, which I hadn't done in a while and I've learned how to handle certain situations and I think that just comes with me just going to college and growing as a person. But I think being a student-athlete allows me to have a different type of growth and it teaches me life lessons that you wouldn't get by just going to college somewhere else."
Based on her performance in the water, Chin has emerged as a leader for the Seawolves. At the 2019 America East Championships, the breaststroke specialist was an 'A' finalist in the 100-yard breaststroke, taking eighth overall with a personal-best time of one minute, 6.39 seconds.
Her impact in the water, but most importantly out of the water had resonated with the rest of the team as they voted her one of the captains for this upcoming season.
"We were a very small team last year for my first season and she was one of the older members of our team as just a sophomore," current head coach
Kerry Smith said of Chin. "But she knew where her role was and that she needed to step up even though she was not in the usual year-range to lead. Ultimately she's taken on an important role where she's kind of that mediator between the coaches and the team where she's able to see both sides and make sure that we're both on the same page. Obviously that's partly my job too but if you don't have someone speaking for the group then you're going to try to hear 20 different voices and I think she did a good job where everyone respected the voice that she was sharing."
Chin's voice as a leader in a competitive setting will be put to the test this Saturday as Stony Brook welcomes Wagner to University Pool at 10 a.m. for its season-opening meet. The dual meet will also welcome back plenty of past Seawolves swimmers and divers as the program holds its Alumni Weekend.
"We're really excited for the alumni to come and kind of be a part of the team especially considering the culture that the team had," Chin said. "It's great to have (assistant coach) Mark (Anderson), who is an alumni on the staff, bring in that past culture because since we are a new team, it's nice to have the alumni support us and show us the traditions that they had."
