COURTESY PHOTOS
Triton’s Erin Savage, left, and Liam Spillane, both lacrosse players, are the Moynihan Lumber April award winners.
By STEVE KRAUSE
It can be a difficult balancing act to be an all-star athlete and have ambitions to be a good student when it’s only one sport you’re dealing with.
But when it’s three? That can be impossible. Yet Liam Spillane and Erin Savage, both of Triton Regional High School, have conquered that particular Mt. Everest. And for that, they received the Moynihan Lumber Student-Athlete award for the month of April.
Spillane will be attending Bates College in the fall, to play football and major in economics. Savage is going to major in physical therapy at Northeastern’s Boston Bouve College. Oh, and she’ll play field hockey too.
Spillane and Savage don’t seem overly impressed with themselves and their accomplishments, even if their course loads leave them little time for anything else but studying and practicing.
“That’s what it takes,” said Spillane, who also played basketball and lacrosse (and won this award for his exploits on the lacrosse field). “Some nights are like that, but that’s what I signed up for.”
Savage, who also won her award for lacrosse, says time management is the key to being a successful student athlete.
“I just enjoy what I do,” she says “When I enjoy something, I want to succeed in it.”
They both credit the school and its staff for their success.
“At Triton,” said Spillane, “the teachers all know what comes first, and that it’s studies.”
Savage said a 10th grade math teacher, Cathy Norton, helped develop her love for math.
“She has played such a large role in my life,” said Savage, who took seven advanced placement courses (the maximum) in two years, and leaves Triton with a 4.5 GPA, ranked fifth in her class.
Her achievements include making high honors for all three quarters this school year, National Honor Society, Foreign Language National Honor Society, Student Council and class officer.
In field hockey last fall — which is the sport she will play in college — she was a Cape Ann League all-star for three years, player of the year in 2014, and captain for the last two seasons.
She has been a four-year varsity player in lacrosse and has been a basketball captain for two years.
Spillane also made honors all three quarters this year and ended up ranked 49th in a class of 169 with a 3.7 GPA.
In football, he was a CAL all-league for three years and CAL Player of the Year last fall. As in football, Spillane was a captain on the basketball team this winter, and was a four-year varsity player in lacrosse.