Tiffany (Hill) Checca graduated from Cicero-North Syracuse High School in 1997 where she was a four-year varsity letter winner in lacrosse and three-year letter winner in soccer and basketball. She Captained all three teams her Senior Year and the basketball team her Junior Year as well. In lacrosse, as a midfielder, she was named ‘Honorable Mention All-League 1994’, ‘Second Team All-League 1995 and 1996’, ‘First Team All-League 1997’, ‘Honorable Mention All-American 1997’ and finished her career with 162 goals, 66 assists, and 416 ground balls. During her tenure, the C-NS Lacrosse team won the league championship all four years, were the Section III champions in 1995, 1996, and 1997, and the NYSPHSAA State Champions in 1995 and 1996. 

Tiffany was the vice president of the National Honor Society and was named the Section III Female Scholar Athlete of the Year across all school districts. She was also a student advisor on the North Syracuse Central School District school board.

Tiffany earned a Congressional Nomination to the United States Naval Academy and started her naval journey immediately upon graduating from high school. While at Navy, she walked on to the Women’s Division I Varsity Soccer team in her freshman and sophomore years. She also played Club Lacrosse (no varsity program yet) all four years. She was the starting center midfielder all four years while captaining the team her Senior Year. During her time as a Midshipman, her team won the NIRSA Club National Championship in 1998 and 1999. Although there was no formal championship tournament in 2000, Navy was ranked #1 in the nation by Lax Power. In 2001, Navy was the runner-up in the WCLA National Championship game. Tiffany was named the National Championship Tournament Most Valuable Player in both 1998 and 1999. In 2001, Tiffany was named a WCLA All-American. She holds the all-time record in WCLA for most points in a game (15) and is second all-time for most goals in a game (10) during the national championship tournament. In her senior year, Tiffany was named the Naval Academy’s Female Club Athlete of the Year.  Most importantly, she never lost to Army in lacrosse.

Commander Tiffany F. (Hill) Checca, USN, Retired

While at Navy, Tiffany was named a Battalion Commander, in charge of 650 Midshipmen her Senior Year, and was also a member of the Scuba Club. She graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in Oceanography and was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer in the Navy.

During her Navy career, Tiffany served aboard USS HOPPER (DDG 70) as Damage Control Assistant and Chief Engineer, USS INGRAHAM (FFG 61) as Navigator, USS CHUNG-HOON (DDG 93) as Chief Engineer and USS MOUNT WHITNEY (LCC 20) as Operations Officer. She was presented in 2004 with the Naval Academy Class of 1970 Junior Officer of the Year award.

Ashore, served as the Protocol Officer to the Commander, of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, as the surface combatant budget analyst for shipbuilding in the Navy’s Financial Management and Budget Office in the Pentagon, as the Training Officer and an Ethics Instructor at the Naval Academy, and as the Military Aide to the President of the United States of America responsible for carrying the President’s Emergency Nuclear Satchel (Nuclear Football) amongst other duties.

Most recently, she was the Executive Officer and Commanding Officer of Assault Craft Unit ONE in Coronado, CA where she commanded over 400 Sailors and 16 combatant assault craft that deployed throughout the world. She retired in September 2022 as a Commander.

Tiffany also holds a Master of Business Administration with a specialty in Financial Management from the Naval Postgraduate School and was named a Conrad Scholar. She also earned a Master’s in Sports Industry Management from Georgetown University.

Tiffany remained active throughout her career working as a dive master in Hawaii and a high school lacrosse coach for two years in Monterey, California. She also qualified and finished the 2009 Xterra Triathlon World Championship in Maui, HI, the 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Mont Tremblant, Canada, the 2015 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, HI, and three Boston Marathons. Most recently, she qualified for the 2024 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupo, New Zealand by winning her age group in Ironman 70.3 Musselman in Geneva, NY.

Tiffany is married to Lieutenant Colonel Rocky Checca, USMC, retired. They have two daughters, Reagan and Isla, and currently live in Arlington, VA.