An accomplished competitive swimmer, Michael Urgo dipped his toes into the coaching waters last fall as part of his senior project.

Urgo worked with kids in the 9-13-year-old range on his club team, the YMCA Westerly-Pawcatuck Dolphins.

It was an eye-opening experience.

“I learned a lot about myself and just dealing with teaching in general,” Urgo said. “I never really knew that I would enjoy it. I did it because I wanted to take my knowledge of it to the next level.

“I like motivating and helping people and I just brought that to kids. It’s very interesting because you have to learn to teach in a different way than you would kids my age. So, it’s very different teaching little kids.”

The only swimmer from Wheeler High School on the Fitch cooperative team, Urgo has enjoyed a successful career.

For the second straight year, Urgo is The Day’s All-Area Swimmer of the Year.

He’s a standout in the classroom as well. He earned CIAC Scholar-Athlete honors and achieved academic all-state status.

And he’s well-respected by his teammates.

“He’s a natural leader,” Fitch coach Katey Kokomoor said. “He was one of our captains this year. He leads by example. He has a very good work ethic and works very hard. He strives for excellence and loves to compete. He will challenge others in practice and he won’t ever shy away from a challenge.

“He’s always willing to help his teammates. … He really fit right in from the beginning.”

Urgo earned Swimmer of the Meet honors for the second straight year in the Eastern Connecticut Conference championship after repeating as the 50-yard freestyle (21.94 seconds) and 100 freestyle (47.50) champion. He also swam a leg on the winning 200 freestyle relay team (1:32.38).

In a dominating performance, the Fitch co-op defended its team title, scoring 563 points compared to runner-up East Lyme’s 378.

Urgo went on to place third in the 100 freestyle (47.64) and fifth in the 50 freestyle (21.95) in the Class L meet and also anchored the second-place 200 freestyle relay (1:28.46) and fourth-place 200 medley relay team (1:40.22).

In the State Open, Urgo took fourth in the 100 freestyle (47.24) and eighth in the 50 freestyle (21.72), in addition to competing in both relays.

“The fact that I got fourth in the whole state was pretty special to me,” Urgo said. “I was so close to getting top three.”

Kokomoor says Urgo’s explosive energy is a reason for his success in the sprint events.

“He just wants to go and give it his all,” Kokomoor said.

As far as career highlights, Urgo points to Fitch winning the program’s first ECC championship since 2016 during his junior season.

“Winning the conference championship is easily the best part of my career, being able to do that with a team of guys that I love so much,” Urgo said. “That year we were the underdogs. It was something special. This year, we cemented that and showed how dominant we are.”

After what he described as a long and arduous process, Urgo decided to attend the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

He picked UMass, in part, because of the big-school atmosphere, a stark contrast to his Wheeler experience, one that he’s grateful for.

The size of his college intro classes as a freshman will likely be larger than his high school graduating class (55).

“I really wanted something where I could spread my wings a little bit,” Urgo said. “UMass is the biggest public school in the Northeast. They have good academics, a good social atmosphere and a lot of stuff to do there. And the food is great, No. 1 dining (school).”

Urgo, who may try to swim at the club level at UMass, is starting off as a political science major but may change course.

There’s still the matter of finishing out his senior year. Urgo is working on completing his senior project that finishes up with a presentation.

Coaching may be in his future.

“Maybe not as a career, but definitely it’s something that I want to do at some point in my life,” Urgo said, “because I love sports and I love competitiveness. And I found out I like motivating kids a lot.”

g.keefe@theday.com

The Day’s 2023 All-Area Boys’ Swimming and Diving Team

Player of the Year - Michael Urgo (Fitch co-op)

200-yard medley relay - Fitch (Evan Hespeler, Sam Ainscough, Jacob Lin, Michael Urgo)

200 freestyle - Eric Wang (East Lyme)

200 individual medley, 100 butterfly - Jacob Lin (Fitch co-op)

Diving - Luke Westkott (Waterford)

500 freestyle, 100 backstroke - Evan Hespeler (Fitch co-op)

200 freestyle relay - Fitch co-op (Evan Hespeler, Sam Ainscough, Jacob Lin, Michael Urgo)

100 breaststroke - Alex Gonzalez (St. Bernard)

400 freestyle relay - East Lyme (Ken Chen, Eduardo Morcos, Albert Zhu, Eric Wang)

Utility - Sohum Balsara (Fitch co-op)