When Ashley Benkert was in 10th grade, her club swim coach told her she should try and get into a Division I school for swimming.
Up until then, she wasn’t sure if she had it in her to do the work required, but that suggestion gave her a focus.
“I thought if I worked hard and thought that if I could go Division I, I should see what happens and go from there,” said Benkert, a senior at Highland High School.
Now, that suggestion has turned into a reality as Benkert recently signed her National Letter of Intent to swim at Division I Iona College, beginning in the 2021-22 season.
All the hard work, which includes double practices almost every day, has paid off.

“I think it’s very rewarding, especially with swimming because it’s not a very popular sport,” Benkert said. “People can see all the hard work pays off, even if they don’t know a lot about the sport.”
Many people don’t even know that Highland High School has a swim team, as the school itself doesn’t have a pool. The team, itself, only has a handful of swimmers.
The Huskies share both a pool and a coach – Amanda Griffin – with the Dukes. In most sports, the two schools are geographic rivals.
“I feel like we’ve always had it in the back of our head, ‘oh my god, Marlboro and Highland are rivals’,” Benkert said. “We had a really good friendship with the Marlboro girls. We hung out and had parties to get ready for the meet. We were all very close, even though Marlboro and Highland are big rivals. We didn’t even think of that at all.”
It also hasn’t stopped Benkert from having a ton of success, both scholastically, and with her club team, the Hawks.
As a junior, Benkert qualified for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships in the 100-yard butterfly, and the 200-yard individual medley, the first time she went in two events. She has qualified for states in the 100-yard butterfly since freshman year.
With the Hawks Swimming Association, with which she has swam since 2010, she has been an Adirondack Golds 100-yard butterfly champion, a Speedo Sectional qualifier in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events, and the 200-yard individual medley.
She expects to stick with the butterfly and medley events when she swims at Iona.
Iona was the one school Benkert was able to visit in-person, as many schools’ campuses were closed to visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She met with other schools and swimmers on Zoom, but she was able to do an in-person visit at Iona and found the girls were very welcoming.
Being able to visit and interact with the Iona swimmers and coach Nick Cavataro in person made all the difference. Some things just don’t translate over a screen.
“I feel like they were very comforting, and they answered any questions I had,” Benkert said. “They made it feel familiar to me. I felt like I would fit in and they were very welcoming. I could tell they wanted me to be on the team, which was a really good feeling.”
She’ll join a program that finished second at the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference, their highest placing ever. Their 2020-21 season is shorted and the MAAC championships have been postponed due to the pandemic.
That’s not dampening Benkert’s enthusiasm for her first season at Iona, even as she remains hopeful about having a senior swim season in March.
“I’m looking forward to meeting new people and just having a different experience because college is very different and to do something that I’m not as used to,” Benkert said. “I’m used to the sport, but I’m looking forward to a different way of doing it.”