READFIELD -- Three Maranacook Community High School students who fell through the ice earlier this week are alive because of the quick thinking of their teammates and their own sheer strength, cross-country ski coach Steve DeAngelis said Friday.

But that doesn't excuse the fact that the six students who ventured out onto thin ice made an incredibly poor decision, he said.

"They are incredibly lucky," DeAngelis said. "The other people around them responded really, really well.

"Ice safety and staying off the ice is something we talk about every year. This wasn't because of a lack of knowledge."

He said all six students will pay the consequences, which include writing letters of apology to rescue crews.

At 3:50 p.m. Tuesday, Winthrop Emergency Medical Service was dispatched to Maranacook Lake in Readfield following a report that a group of teenagers had fallen through the ice behind the Weathervane Restaurant on Route 17.

The teens broke through the ice but were able to swim to shore safely.

Superintendent Richard Abramson, said several members of the team took a shortcut from Camp KV to the Readfield Beach.

"There were six kids involved; three went in," Abramson said. "They very quickly realized it was not the best idea."

DeAngelis said he told the team that day to run for a half-hour up and down Route 17. Because of a lack of snow, DeAngelis said, the ski team has had to stick to land training.

"Normally, we try to run on the trails behind the school, but it's been so icy. They're too icy to be safe," he said.

Several members of the team apparently took a shortcut from Camp KV to Readfield Beach.

DeAngelis said he was up at the high school when some members of his team ran up the hill to get him, saying some kids had fallen into the lake.

DeAngelis grabbed a rope and hopped into his truck. At the same time, some of the students' fellow teammates started stripping off their clothes while they stood on the shore of Readfield Beach, preparing to give them to the students emerging from the icy water.

Shortly before DeAngelis arrived at the beach, high school business teacher Patricia Morris saw some students in the water as she was leaving the high school.

The group used Morris' cell phone to call 911 and a rescue team arrived three minutes later.

Before the rescue crew arrived, the students managed to swim 100 feet to shore and climb out of the water.

Morris got the students into her warm car and brought them to the student health center, where paramedics were waiting for them.

According to Abramson, the paramedics determined the students didn't need to be transported and their families came to the school right away.

"The kids on the team were very smart and didn't panic and go out on the ice," DeAngelis said. "And Patricia did a real good job of organizing things. My role in the rescue part was zero."

In addition to the letters of apology, DeAngelis said the students:

n Were not allowed to participate in a race the day after the incident;

n Will apologize in person to the Lakes Region Mutual Aid fire response group;

n Will speak in front of their peers about their poor decision making.

"What I want them to do is learn from this in a very positive way and recognize that they got lucky and didn't die, and then use that to help other people," DeAngelis said.

"Thin lake ice is a great metaphor for other things in life," he added. "This is about being able to listen to your inner voice and standing up for your convictions."

Still, some changes have been made for practices, DeAngelis said, which late this week consisted of the team running around the track while DeAngelis watched them -- not ideal for training, he said.

John Dovinsky, director of the Winthrop ambulance service, said the teens showed signs of hypothermia after they were rescued.

"Given their age and the fact that they had been physically exerting themselves, they were creating more warmth," Dovinsky said. "However, the amount of time they were in the water and because of complete immersion, they were cold, but they were shivering.

"From witness accounts, it sounds like they were in the water for a good three to four minutes and hypothermia doesn't take long -- probably 10 to 15 minutes -- before real severe hypothermia sets in."

"I think everybody made the right decision to get them out of their wet clothes and into the warmth and begin warming them both internally and externally," Dovinksy said.

Elizabeth Comeau -- 623-3811, Ext. 433

ecomeau@centralmaine.com