Sam Kokomoor freely admits he’s stubborn, a trait that has served the Fitch High School senior well.

Kokomoor’s dream was to go to the U.S. Naval Academy so that he could join the Special Forces and give back to the country, a task that demands dogged perseverance.

One cannot get through the high-level classes Kokomoor takes and be an International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme candidate without persistence.

And Kokomoor couldn’t have shaped himself into the Most Outstanding Swimmer at this season’s Eastern Connecticut Conference swimming and diving championships or helped the Fitch/Stonington cooperative team win that meet for the first time since 2007 without being tenacious.

Stubbornness helped make Kokomoor The Day’s 2016 All-Area Swimmer of the Year.

“I’m a fairly stubborn person,” Kokomoor said, “and swimming is about how much you can will your body to put out. It’s not so much skill-based. It’s more effort-based. I think I really like that.”

Not so when his parents made him start swimming to stay in shape when he was a second-grader. Swimming is a family sport and it was a way for his parents to ensure that Kokomoor was in shape, although he hated it all the way up to high school.

“I was a lazy middle-schooler who didn’t want to work or exercise three days a week,” Kokomoor said. “Yeah, I was a fun kid.”

Kokomoor had an epiphany about swimming once he got to Fitch. The work ethic surrounding the sport impressed him. He weighed 200 pounds when he arrived as a freshman, but dropped 45 pounds during that first swimming season. He was hooked and was willing to do the work to make himself the best swimmer he could be, often rising for practice at 5:45 a.m.

“He’s the kind of kid that proudly said (to me), ‘Oh, I’m in trouble. Throw some push-ups at me,’” Fitch/Stonington coach Ken Berg said. “I’d go, ‘Well, do 100.’ (He’d say), ‘No.’ (I’d say), ‘How about 200?’

“He loves to get in trouble and he loves to do push-ups. He’ll do chin-ups. He’s one of those kind of guys who likes the physical challenge. In today’s world, I would say there’s maybe 15-20 percent of boys who are like that.”

Kokomoor set an ECC championship meet record in the 100-yard butterfly this season (52.59 seconds), besting the mark set by East Lyme’s Adam Opsahl in 2013 (52.73). He also won the 200 freestyle (1:47.88), teamed with John Moody, Patrick Nowak and John Marcolina to win the 200 medley relay and swam with Matt Planchon, Sam Rea and Moody on the winning 400 freestyle relay team.

The 200 freestyle was an event Kokomoor liked because it was challenging.

“It’s sort of a distance sprint,” Kokomoor said. “If I had to compare it to track, I’d say it would have to be the 400. You have to (go) as fast as you can, but you can’t flat out sprint because you might not make it.”

Kokomoor isn’t quite sure what he’s going to do after graduation. He had his heart set on going to Navy and attended a summer preparatory program at the academy to get an idea what it was like as well as help him stand out from the crowd. He was disappointed to find out last week that he didn’t get admitted and is considering attending Boston College, becoming an Army reservist or enlisting in the Marines.

"Quite honestly, I’ve been spending 17 years taking advantage of the rights and the privilege that our Constitution guarantees us, and I want to give back,” Kokomoor said. “I get a free education. I get to swim. I get to do sports. I have a wonderful life and I think our country provided that for me and I’m willing to fight for that.”

n.griffen@theday.com

The Day's 2016 All-Area Swimming & Diving Team

Player of the Year – Sam Kokomoor (Fitch/Stonington)

200-yard medley relay – Fitch/Stonington (John Moody, Patrick Nowak, Sam Kokomoor, John Marcolina)

200 individual medley, 100 breaststroke – Patrick Nowak (Fitch/Stonington)

50 freestyle, 100 freestyle – Benas Kirvelevicius (East Lyme)

Diving – Matt Patton (Waterford)

500 freestyle – Aaron Lewis (Fitch)

200 freestyle relay – Fitch/Stonington (Sam Rea, Sean Estep, Patrick Nowak, John Marcolina)

100 backstroke – John Moody (Fitch/Stonington)

400 free relay – Fitch/Stonington (Sam Rea, Matt Planchon, John Moody, Sam Kokomoor)

Utility – Jacob Olson (Old Lyme)