COURTESY PHOTO
Caroline Platt of Pingree was named one of two Moynihan Lumber Student-Athlete of the Month winners for February.
St. John’s Prep junior Oliver Zmetrovich and Pingree sophomore Caroline Pratt, both swimmers, glide gracefully along the water when it comes to handling the balance of athletics and academics.
The North Shore standouts both have high GPA’s and experienced a season’s worth of of success in the pool this winter. For their continued efforts to become top-notch scholar athletes, Pratt and Zmetrovich have been named the Moynihan Lumber Student-Athletes of the Month for February.
“When I saw the email I was on vacation and I was kind of shocked,” said Pratt. “I told my parents and they said ‘oh my gosh that’s amazing.’ This is so amazing because there were so many people considered, so I am just really happy and proud.”
Like Pratt, Zmetrovich felt the honor was only amplified considering the applicant pool, and the fact that a few of his friends, whom he holds in very high regard, were also in the running.
“It’s really exciting. It hadn’t been on my radar screen until my coach brought it to my attention,” said Zmetrovich. “A couple of my teammates have won it (in the past) and I was going against some of my (other) friends from the Prep. It was great to hear I won especially knowing a lot of the people who have won it before and who my competitors were.”
The top swimmer for the Highlanders this year, Pratt took third in the 100 butterfly (1:00.27) and second in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.96) in the New England Prep School Athletic Conference Championship, bettering her own school records in both events.
She was also on the 200 medley relay team that took fifth.
“Probably my drive to just go,” Pratt said of her biggest strength as a swimmer. “Before I get up and race, I try not to stress and I think about why I love the sport, rather than my times and what I am trying to achieve. I think about why I love swim racing, why I do this sport and why I wake up every morning when I could be sleeping.”
The Beverly resident swims club with the North Shore Sharks out of Beverly, and she began swimming when she was five five years old. When her family moved to Australia for a few years where there is a lot of swimming in gym class, Pratt discovered she wanted to take up the sport competitively.
Now, she wakes up at 4:15 a.m. every morning for two hours of practice in the pool before heading to the campus in Hamilton. After school, she has another 2-3 hours of club swim practice. After all that, she finally settles in to do her school work. She enjoys math and science but is an avid reader who dives into sports books that deal with the mental side of trying to achieve athletic success.
Despite all the work, Pratt maintains a GPA of 89.7 out of 100.
Zmetrovich helped lead the Eagles to yet another Division 1 state championship as the team took home its 11th crown in the last 12 years. He earned an individual title along the way.
The Marblehead native captured the title in the 100 fly with a new program record of 50.35 while claiming second in the 100 backstroke and racing a leg in the second-place 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay teams. Having been a club swimmer for almost a decade, Zmetrovich believes that swimming as part of a team like the Eagles only increases his drive to succeed.
“What makes high school swimming totally different from club is I see club as an individual sport but high school is all about the team and trying to get as many points as possible — not necessarily for yourself, but for the team,” said Zmetrovich. “Swimming for the Prep totally flips what I’m used to on its head. It’s amazing. I swim faster in high school meets often because you are swimming for more than yourself so it means a lot more.”
The Catholic Conference All-Star and MVP of the conference championship meet at Holy Cross, Zmetrovich considers his biggest strength is his work underwater after starting off the blocks, which usually gives him an early lead.
In the classroom, he is a member of the National Honor Society and the National Latin Honor Society. Zmetrovich maintains a GPA of 4.3 and has carried all Honors and AP courses since freshman year. Zmetrovich talked about how he juggles all of his responsibilities.
“It’s very difficult and takes a lot of determination, strong work ethic and focus all the time,” said Zmetrovich. “Any time I’m not swimming, I’m doing school and vice versa. There’s literally no free time. It makes me super efficient with school work.”