By Sapna Pathak
Staff Writer

Neighborhood News/Bruce Preston Manchester Central’s Ashley E. Green prepares for the 500-yard freestyle at this year’s NHIAA swimming and diving championships at the University of New Hampshire’s Swasey Pool. The Little Green junior finished the race in 5-minutes, 34.18 seconds, securing fourth-place honors.

Simply chat with a few coaches and it becomes clear: There's a definite connection between competitive swimming and academic success.

On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 3 and 4, hundreds participated in the state swimming and diving championships at the University of New Hampshire's Swasey Pool. There, coaches from a variety of teams agreed swimmers are consistently good students, compared to athletes of other sports.

“A lot of high school swimmers have done this for a long time,” said Salem's head coach, Missy Rowell. “They develop time management skills at such a young age it's easy to apply it in the classroom when they're older.”

According to usaswim ming.org, college swimmers tend to have the highest grade-point averages among athletes, as well the general college population. Swimmers, on average, also tend to major in harder areas of study such as biochemistry.

An athlete's college success in the classroom is the result of a strong high school academic career, said Rachel Mentz, head coach at John Stark of Weare.

Mentz's only competitor at the meet, Laura Getts, is on the honor roll, a member of the National Honor Society, and president of the Spanish Honor Society.

According to the Web site's article, “Sports like swimming do attract kids that have higher self-esteem, higher socioeconomic backgrounds, higher identification with the school and better cognitive skills.”

Memorial head coach Mike Peterson said people who place their children in youth swimming programs do it because they have the money. In turn, those children are used to working hard and accepting instruction at an early age.

Amanda Johnson swims for Concord. The junior said she's mainly an A student. Next year, she's planning on taking a variety of advanced placement classes.

“I learned how to be dedicated and organized through swimming,” said Johnson. “Swimming has a lot of controlled factors, which teaches you to be really goal-oriented, and that helps in the pool.”

Manchester West's head coach, Kathryn VanDerBeken, said she personally relates to this theory. VanDerBeken swam while in high school and said her training taught her the importance of setting a schedule and sticking to a routine.

John Drolette heads up the swimmers at Goffstown High and said his team has late practices due to budgeting factors of the school board.

Drolette's swimmers have to learn to finish homework upon leaving school to arrive at practice on time.

“It's a tight schedule; they don't have time to not focus on anything,” said Drolette. “Some even have a part-time job, which adds to the discipline they have to develop.”

Swim meet results

After a long day of competing in Durham, the Bow boys team finished fifth with 111 total points.

Senior co-captain Steven Mulherin placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke. Senior Mathew Card finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke. Card also placed second in the 200-yard individual medley (IM).

The boys took fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay and third in the 200-yard medley relay. Bow's girls placed 14th with 31 team points.

The Concord boys placed 14th with 33 points. Senior Alex Broadbent placed fourth in the 200-yard IM. Meanwhile, the girls were eighth with 67 points as Jennifer Corriveau placed first in the 50-yard free. Corriveau also took second in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Manchester Memorial's boys scored 20 points for 19th place, while the girls scored seven points, tying Hopkinton for the 24th spot.

Salem's girls came in ninth with 63 points, while the boys placed 20th with 19 points. Seniors Michelle Ronsivalli was third in the 100-yard breaststroke, while Regina Egan placed sixth in the 500-yard free. Egan, Ronsivalli, Caitlin Dube, and Zoe Nikitas came in fourth in the 400-yard free relay.

The boys of Manchester West came in 24th with 10 points, while the Lady Blue Knights took 16th place with 29 points. Manchester Central's boys came in 27th and the girls placed 20th with 20 points.

John Stark's girls placed 19th with 24 points. Getts grabbed second in the 50-yard free and fourth in the 100-yard free.