Amy M. (Arisco) Geriak owned seven individual and four relay records upon the completion of a four-year swimming career as one of the program’s most versatile performers.
In a career spanning 2007 to 2011, the Wallingford native swam to All-New England honors at the New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association (NEISDA) Championships a total of 20 times in five different individual and four different relay events and earned All-Little East Conference recognition 17 times in seven different individual events and five different relay events.
At the conclusion of her career in February of 2011, Arisco held seven individual program records and swam a leg of four (of the program’s five) record-setting relays. Those seven individual records included all three distances (50, 100 and 200 yards) of the butterfly and all three distances (100, 200 and 400 yards) of the individual medley, as well as the 200 freestyle.
Today, Arisco still owns the 100 butterfly, 100 IM and 200 freestyle records as well as the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays. She is one of only two swimmers to currently hold program records in three different strokes (freestyle, butterfly and IM).
In her career, Arisco finished first in individual competition a total of 62 times, including 21 times as a sophomore and 20 times as a senior. As a senior co-captain, she placed first in the 200 IM all five times in dual-meet competition, won the LEC title in the 200 freestyle and 400 IM, and was second in the NEISDA meet in the 100 and 400 IM. That year, she was voted as the department’s first Individual Sport Athlete-of-the-Year, which included both female and male nominees.
Arisco becomes the third individual in the 29-year history of the program to gain Alumni Hall of Fame induction, following Amy Golas ’03 in 2014 and Sarah Barber ’08 in 2018. Golas was a five-time NEISDA champion in the butterfly and Barber an eight-time NEISDA titlist in the distance freestyle.
As a sophomore, Arisco became the program’s first individual other than Golas or Barber to capture an individual title in NEISDA competition when she became the program’s first 400 IM champion.
Arisco began her career by winning the University of Saint Joseph Pentathlon in her first collegiate meet and defended that title as a sophomore. Both times, Arisco finished first in four of the five 100-yard pentathlon events. She added second place in the pentathlon as a junior and third place as a senior.
Several weeks after winning at Saint Joseph as a freshman, Arisco missed the middle-third of the season (including the LEC Championships Dec.1) due to illness before recovering in time to record three Top 6 finishes at the NEISDA meet in mid-February, including second place in a program record (which she later broke and still holds) time in the 100 IM.
While Arisco can recall many “memorable” career moments , she looks back at one in particular that occurred in the final relay of her freshman season at NEISDA that, she says, “set the stage for the remainder of my career at Eastern.” In that race, Arisco swam anchor on the 800 free relay which included Barber, a senior, and sophomore standouts Jessica Wilson and Kelsy Doheny. That relay placed fifth in a program-record time of 8:23.07 – a standard which stood until Arisco, as a senior, helped break that relay record in 2011 by swimming the opening leg at NEISDA.
“I don’t think I realized [at the time] quite how much it meant to be part of the team until that race,” Arisco recalls, 14 years later. “Their care, support, fierceness and determination all gave me what I needed to finish that race strong. I’ll always remember being part of that relay, with those teammates, and how it truly set the standard for my mindset for the remaining years while at Eastern.”
In addition to the five records which remained at the time of her induction, Arisco also resides in the current Top 10 in six additional individual and relay categories, including all three butterfly and all three IM distances.
Under program founder and former 23-year head coach Maureen Fahey, Arisco helped the Warriors to a 32-11 dual-meet record, four Top 3 finishes in the Little East Conference Championship Meet and four finishes of seventh or better (including a third place in 2009/10).
Arisco holds a B.S. Degree in Biology and is self-employed as a homeschool teacher. She resides in Arundel, ME with husband Adam and young son Oliver.
