Old Town swimmers are special

Fifteen state championships is a pretty lofty number. That’s the number for Old Town High School in swimming after the Indians won the Class B boys championship on Tuesday at Wallace Pool in Orono. They also took home the sportsmanship award – no small matter.

For those who have followed their season, the heartbreak has been real. The team lost state diving champion, Steve Gomm, in a car crash this year. Their coach, Doug Springer, came out of retirement when the former coach retired. It was a year of issues and questions.

Growing up is tough enough when most things are going right. When the wheel turns against you and you’re in high school trying to understand, the days are tougher.

Without personally knowing the individual members of this team, it’s a pretty good bet a lot of growing up went on this year and a lot of the growing came in the context of being a member of the swim team.

This is what high school sports can be. Beyond the wins and losses, the practices and the games, the politics and the posturing, there are young people learning about relating to one another and the world around them. In years like the one the Old Town boys just completed, the learning comes fast and the realities hit you in the face.

Over the years a lot of students have learned about life and living and have done so around the pool. That opportunity exits because decades ago a school system and community decided the high school needed a pool and the pool needed swim teams.

A lot of people wondered about building a pool in Old Town. At that time, when it came to sports, the school was most noted for basketball and swimming was never much talked about.

To school officials and ultimately the community, the pool was another opportunity for students to find a niche in which to grow. That foresight could not have been more accurate.

The rewards of that foresight hang from the walls of the school gym in the form of championship banners. The rewards exist in the growth of students to adults who hearken back to the friendships and achievements that came in a swim program in the frozen winters.

This year, that foresight provided a team with a place to handle a tragedy they turned into a purpose. They dedicated their win to their deceased teammate and let the emotions flow when the purpose became an accomplishment.

There are other schools and other realities that student athletes, musicians, artists and scholars have grown through, helped by those communities that realize every opportunity offered students is an opportunity for all of us to learn.

Over the years, I refer often to my education at Old Town High. I do so with recognition that I was fortunate. I hope this year’s swimmers feel the same. We certainly feel that way about them.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.