Coniglio - Record's Athlete of the Week

Dec 8, 2009

Female Athlete: Andrea Coniglio of Paramus

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
 Last updated: Tuesday December 8, 2009, 8:29 AM
BY GREG MATTURA
The Record
STAFF WRITER
Andrea Coniglio is always hungry, and the Paramus senior even has a T-shirt that says "I’m hungry" in Spanish: "Tego hambre."
 
Coniglio recalls eating an entire pizza pie at age 13 and her favorite food is "Anything my mom [Betty] makes."
 
The Record Female Athlete of the Week can eat pretty much whatever she wants because swimming year-round for the past decade has given her plenty of energy and a fast metabolism.
 
Her get-up-and-go attitude also has served her well in the classroom. She has a 3.8 grade-point average and takes three advanced placement classes: psychology, environmental science and language and composition.
 
Her favorite subject is science, because it’s less rigid than math, but more structured than English.
 
FEMALE ATHLETE
Sport: Swimming
Class: Senior
Age: 18
Accomplishments: Andrea Coniglio won four events (500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay) against Teaneck and four events (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay) in a win over Immaculate Conception.
 
"Math is concrete," said Coniglio, 18, whose father, Mark, earned Athlete of the Week as a Paramus wrestler in the 1970s. "And in English, there’s too much of a spectrum, so I might write in a way that a teacher might not like. In science, if you do a lab, you do a list of the things that went wrong, and it’s OK to make mistakes."
 
Coniglio plans to attend a college in New York City, Boston or Philadelphia, because "I like the city environment more than the rural. I like the hustle and bustle."
 
She would like to major in biology and pursue a career as an orthodontist. She became interested in that field after wearing braces in sixth and seventh grades.
 
"Ever since, I wanted to get my braces off, I feel if you have a nice smile you feel better about yourself," Coniglio said. "And it’s a profession where you don’t have somebody’s life in your hands."
 
Coniglio enjoys traveling and was born in Japan (her father worked for the Army Corps of Engineers and was stationed there). She also lived in Australia, where her younger sister, Monica, was born, and Korea.
 
No matter where she attends college, Coniglio will continue swimming. Otherwise, her always being hungry might lead her to finally tack on a few pounds.
 
"That’s why I can never picture myself not swimming in college," she said. "The ‘Freshman 15,’ that’s not going to happen."
Also nominated: Alisha Cervone of Demarest and Eilish Divine of River Dell/Westwood for swimming.
 
E-mail: mattura@northjersey.com