BY Wayne Coffey
Daily News Sports Writer
Dover, Pennsylvania
Sunday, February 8th 2009, 10:11 AM

DOVER, Pa. - As dusk slips over the frozen hillsides of south central Pennsylvania, just northeast of Gettysburg, a red-haired swim coach named Michael Plappert is at water's edge in a steamy aquatic center, offering some final advice to his pupil and protégé. "Do your best. Don't look around. Swim down and back as fast as you can," the coach says.

In Lane 6, lying on his back as he awaits the start of the 50-yard freestyle in a meet between Dover Area High School and Northeastern High, Noah Rinehart, a 16-year-old Dover sophomore, seems to be taking it in. For once he is not making wisecracks, or flirting with the girls. He loves being in the water, on a team, and being around Michael Plappert, a decorated athlete and 26-year-old assistant coach for the Dover High Eagles who doubles as his best friend.

"He's my inspiration, and my goal to keep going," Noah says. "He's my role model."

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