Not many local schools can say that.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Apple, a 2015 Edgewood graduate, helped United States teams win gold medals in the 100-meter freestyle relay and the 100-meter medley relay at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
He subsequently spent six weeks in Italy training and competing in International Swimming League events before coming home to Trenton, where he was greeted by a billboard arranged by his high school coach, Ben Johnson, before serving as grand marshal for Friday’s Homecoming parade.
“It’s been awesome,” Apple said during a break between a meet-and-greet dinner in the high school and the kickoff of the football game. “It’s sort of surreal. You go to Skyline and people recognize you, and you don’t know who they are. It’s a little overwhelming, and it can be a little exhausting.”
Apple graciously accepted every invitation for photos and handshakes and fist bumps and hugs on Friday, both before and after halftime ceremonies that included the school district announcing that the main entrance to the high school will be renamed Zach Apple Lane and that Friday was Zach Apple Day in the city of Trenton.
“What’s up, Trenton?” Apple wondered aloud into a microphone. “The support from the town and the school district has been overwhelming. Coming from our town to the world stage – I’m overwhelmed.”
Apple’s Friday at Edgewood started with a dinner in the school during which a framed montage of images from his career was unveiled, including his Olympic uniform. It will hang on a wall outside the gym.
Then he sat in the back seat of a white 2019 Chevrolet Corvette, the lead car in the Homecoming parade that circled the field before the game. A United States flag covered the trunk, attached to to a flag depicting the five Olympic rings hanging off the back.
He wore around his neck red, white and blue lanyards from which hung at the bottom his two gold medals. Could folks feel them and hold them? Sure.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Apple was so caught up in the competition in July that he barely noticed the pandemic-imposed shortage of fans in Tokyo, he said. The barriers between diners in the eating areas couldn’t escape notice, but he also was able to trade pins with athletes from other countries – an Olympic staple for competitors.
“I was so in the moment that it didn’t feel different,” he said. “Day in and day out, it wasn’t that different. I was focused.”
What he hopes for is a more normal experience in three years at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, but that’s not his driving force.
“I don’t know if that increases my motivation,” he said. “It’s more like this is what I want to do.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
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