Andrews Reflects on Morgantown, Family
November 05, 2014 09:22 AM | General
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| Kayla Andrews is getting her master's degree in clinical exercise physiology and will get married in March. |
Each season, WVU swimming and diving takes a look back at its alumni, and provides background information on current members of the squad. This is the second of a season-long series of features.
Kayla Andrews has only been away from Morgantown for a few years, but it feels like much longer than that.
“I miss it,” she explained. “Don’t ever leave.”
The former WVU swimmer from 2006-2010 had an illustrious career inside the WVU Natatorium.
In fact, her name is still displayed on the Natatorium wall as the women’s school record holder in the 50 and 100 freestyle events. As much as Andrews looks back on those memories in Morgantown, she has moved on from swimming and has started a new life.
“After swimming, I went to grad school at the University of Delaware. Now I am working as an exercise physiologist at Wilmington University in their employee fitness center,” Andrews said. “I’m just going to school, working and getting married in March.”
The Delaware native is back where things all started. She’s getting her master’s degree in clinical exercise physiology, serving as what she described as a much more thorough personal trainer – one who focuses more on wellness versus fitness.
Through it all, Andrews still thinks about when she bumped into a friend on a visit to the University of Maryland.
“I was on a recruiting trip at Maryland. One of the girls there, who actually was later my roommate my freshman year, she told me that I had to go look at WVU,” Andrews said. “She was on her last scheduled recruiting trip, but knew she was going to go to WVU. She said it was the best place she had been to.”
So Andrews contacted the WVU swimming program and scheduled a visit.
“The rest was history,” she said. “I ended up falling in love with it.”
Andrews admitted, like any college student or student-athlete, she had her emotional highs and lows. But with the highs significantly outnumbering the lows, she struggles to pick out her best moments.
“There were so many great memories. There are too many to choose from. That’s a common question I get,” Andrews admitted. “It really was just the team. It was such a good team and we had such a good coaching staff.
I was just in a wedding with a former swimmer, and three of my friends from WVU swimming are going to be in my wedding in March. The whole team just becomes your family. Looking back, that was the best part of it.”
The spirit and pride at West Virginia helped mold Andrews into the person she is today.
“Once you’re there, it doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete or not, you’re all one big family,” Andrews said. “We just had a Mountaineer wedding, and I saw people who haven’t seen for two years, and it was like we hadn’t missed a beat. It really becomes your family. At West Virginia, you bleed Blue and Gold. There is just nothing like it.”
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Coach Zac Alley | April 18
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Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 18
Saturday, April 18
Mountaineer Invitational Recap
Thursday, April 16
