BIDDEFORD — When the more than 200 graduates walked down the aisle at Biddeford High School’s graduation Sunday, eight were adorned with one special piece of hardware: The Golden Tiger medallion.

The high school awarded Heather Fecteau, Alyson Roy, Tyler Vigue, Matt McGuirk, Jenna Roy, Clint Maloy, Zach Jacques and Brianna Laverriere the golden medals for participating in three sports per year for all four years of school.

All eight students were part of Biddeford Athletic Director Dennis Walton’s Iron Tiger program, which awards an iron tiger statue at the end of each year to student athletes who participated in three sports during that school year.

These students were freshmen when Walton implemented the program.

“I challenged the freshmen class to become three-sport athletes for four years and become the first graduating class of Golden Tigers,” Walton said. “And these eight did it.”

For the graduates, playing three sports per year was a way to become a better person, Fecteau said.

“I found that it helped me focus,” said Fecteau, who also graduated in the top 10 of her class. “I had to use time management to make sure that I could balance my academics with my social life and sports. I also made a lot of friends and got to know a lot of people.”

The same held true for Zach Jacques, who will be going to the Air Force Academy in the fall and also graduated in the top 10.

“You had to learn how to balance different workloads,” he said. “You had to be committed and you had to stay focused.”

Walton began the program four years ago when he saw what he called an epidemic of athletes specializing in one sport. He said he believed it was causing adverse effects to the school’s athletic teams because athletes had such a narrow focus. Walton said that he learned this specialization was also leading to an epidemic of overuse, sports-related injuries.

When he implemented the program, 93 students earned iron tigers that first year. This year, 123 athletes earned the awards. And last week, he spoke with the incoming freshmen class about the benefits of becoming an iron tiger.

“Biddeford is now one of the smallest Class A schools in the state,” Walton said. “I tell our athletes all the time that our athletes are as good as any school’s athletes, but we need to compete in multiple sports in order to compete with much larger schools.”

It also instills a sense of community, Alyson Roy said.

“I found that I took more pride in my school and being a Biddeford Tiger,” she said. “It allowed me to enjoy and take advantage of high school and have more fun.”

Of the eight athletes who earned the Golden Tiger, which is a gold medal with a roaring tiger head, four were ranked in the top 10 of their class ”“ Fecteau, Jacques, Matt McGuirk and Alyson Roy.

“I wanted to take advantage of playing three sports,” Jacques said. “I knew I wasn’t going to go pro in one sport, so I chose to have fun playing three different sports.”

Walton said he agrees with Jacques. Most athletes will not earn Division I athletic scholarships or become a professional, he said, and he encourages athletes to play as many sports as they can and be a kid.

“Kids only get four years to experience the joys of high school competition,” he said. “These eight students took full advantage of what high school athletics provides.”

— Contact Al Edwards at 282-1535, Ext. 323.