One thing Dave Ploch preaches as a coach and a teacher is that his students strive to be well-rounded academically and athletically.
At least 11 senior student-athletes on the Old Town High School swim team have embraced that philosophy.
Seven boys and four girls from the Coyotes’ swimming program have been recognized with National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association Academic All America honors.
To receive the honor, a student-athlete must compete at the varsity level and have maintained a grade point average higher than 93.75 over the course of seven semesters.
Last year, 1,776 athletes across the country received the honor and 20 were from Maine.
“We’ve had individuals make it in the past but not in the numbers we’ve had this year,” said Ploch, who is Old Town’s boys swimming coach while Josh D’Angelo coaches the girls team.
The recognized swimmers are Nick Gould, Jacob Ketch, Nathan St. Jean, Drew St. Jean, Dominic D’Angelo, Garrett Stoyell, Nick Feero, Allison Ketch, Johanna Burgason, Kassidy Harriman and Alexis Rutherford.
In addition to their swimming successes, Ploch said several of the recognized athletes undertake a rigorous academic and extracurricular regimen, one that can help student-athletes better understand the balancing of athletic and academic priorities.
“I think those types of things create the need for time-management skills,” he said. “Their families are supportive. They do an awful lot and they’re able to do it.”
Ploch said the athletes are also involved in programs such as band, student council and Old Town’s Junior ROTC program.
“They’re student-athletes, so the student [part] is first,” he said. “They’re excused from practice [sometimes] for academic reasons, so it’s a very highly motivated group.”
Fortunately, in a sport such as swimming, if an athlete is forced to miss a practice for academic reasons, they can easily complete workouts outside the team’s practice schedule.
“They’re either able to go to an open swim or they’re on our Y team,” Ploch said.
The recognition of the swimmers caps off what has been a highly successful season for Old Town’s program, as the boys were crowned Class B state champions.
One of the leaders of that effort was Gould, who was named the Class B Boys Swimmer of the Year. He won the 100-yard butterfly and the 100 backstroke at the state championship meet.
“A lot of the kids on that list were big point-scorers for us,” said Ploch. “They’ve been working at it for four years.”
Ploch, a science teacher at Old Town, has coached the boys the last 10 seasons and 21 overall. He also coached the girls for seven winters. D’Angelo has directed the Old Town girls program for the last nine years.
One thing that they have learned as coaches is how to help their kids find the proper balance, and it has led to success in the pool.
“We try to work together, have certain nights off for one program or another program,” Ploch said. “If they have a band obligation that night we may not swim that night or we may swim at an earlier time.”
The swimmers also were recognized last month at a pep rally celebrating the accomplishments of the swim teams and the Old Town-Orono boys ice hockey team.
Follow Ryan McLaughlin on Twitter at @rmclaughlin23.
