By Mitch Silver
Brendan Egan has earned the February Lions Club Athlete of the Month award for his efforts in the classroom and the pool. Nominated by Head Swim Coach Steph Schilling and seconded by the Rye High School Athletic Department, Egan will join the other monthly winners in the race for Athlete of the Year, an honor that will be announced in June at the Club’s dinner at The Osborn. A triple threat, he also plays varsity lacrosse and football.
Egan has AP courses in Psychology, Economics, Government, and both World and U.S. History under his belt. He’s been named Student of the Quarter in Physics and a Student of the Week in SUPA (Syracuse University Project Advance), an educational program that provides high school students with the opportunity to take a college-level course in Forensic Science in their own schools.
He credits teachers Kristen Warner and Amy Leahy with providing steady counsel in the classroom. Confessing that he’s “a small school guy,” Egan will swim for Union College next year. “I may major in History, but Union has a strong Engineering Department, so I’ll also give that a try.”
So far, whatever Brendan Egan has tried, he’s succeeded. A five-year varsity swimmer and a captain of this year’s team, Egan earned All-League recognition for his work in the butterfly. He scored points in the 100 fly at Sectionals, finishing in 56.94, and his leadoff leg in the 200 free relay led the Rye-Rye Neck-Blind Brook team to the Section A Finals, where they finished eighth against much bigger schools.
Egan shares what he knows of his various sports. He’s been a teacher at Rye Youth Lacrosse clinics for younger players in both spring and fall since sophomore year, and a lifeguard/swim instructor at Old Oaks Country Club in Purchase and Manursing Island Club here in Rye. He’s also helped Port Chester kids through the Ward Summer Reading Institute at Christ’s Church.
What is there about Brendan that even his good friends don’t know?
“I collect comic books. Once a month, I go to Aw Yeah Comics across the street from the Harrison train station and pick up the latest installment of “The Walking Dead,” a black-and-white graphic serial. I guess they don’t know that.”
