In the world of sports, outdoor track is one that requires a lot of versatility and talent in many different areas while being both a team and individual endeavor. The Westbrook boys’ and girls’ outdoor track teams found a lot of success as a unit while establishing themselves as a true force in the Shoreline Conference and at the state level this spring.

Knights Head Coach Sheridan Bauman, who has been with the program since 2013 as an assistant, took over the reigns during the indoor season in 2019. She was very pleased with the hard work the athletes put in day in and day out, and that work ethic led to the boys’ 4x100 relay team repeating a conference title from a season ago.

“Most of the team came on board as juniors last season, we won our first Shoreline Championship for the first season as a relay team,” said Bauman. “They defended that title and won again this year.”

On May 30 at the Class S State Championship meet, the Westbrook boys placed 21 out of 35 teams, and the girls placed 22 out of

31 teams. Within those results, many athletes collected strong individual numbers in their respective events. As if that stage wasn’t big enough, several Knights also qualified for the State Open Championship on June 5.

Senior captain Halley Pierson competed in the pole vault and finished 18th out of 23, jumping 9’. Senior Brandon Naccarato competed in the 100 meter race and finished with a final time of 11.13 in the preliminaries. He placed 16th out of 23. Senior Vincent “Vinny” Naccarato competed in the javelin event, in which he threw 137-03 meters and claimed 20th place out of 24 spots.

Pierson was the driving force behind Westbrook’s success as a collective squad because she led her teammates as both a motivator and hard worker while putting up competitive pole vault numbers in the process.

“All four years she was my MVP more so because she always showed up, had the kids do awesome senior days, and got really good gifts for the coaches,” Bauman said. “She is just that person and happened to be a really good pole vaulter. We learned that together and it was one of the best experiences. I had Halley as a gymnast and another gymnast, the two of them came together and we learned that together when we first started. She jumped 10 feet after that season.”

As far as events go, Bauman is not only the overall program coordinator for the Knights, but she also coaches the boys’ and girls’ sprints events, distance events and pole vault.

Assistant Coach Jordan Bean coaches the girls’ and boys’ long and triple jump, the shot put, discus and javelin.

Prior to competing in the Class S State Championship, the Knights were able to get some of their big-stage nerves out of the way when they raced in the Shoreline Athletic Conference (SLC) Championship. With their wit and stamina being put to the test, Westbrook delivered with several notable performances.

“Halley (Pierson) came in fourth for pole vault in the Shoreline Championship,” Bean said. “Brandon (Naccarato) came in first place for the boys’ 4x100 with a team who was very successful, he also came in second for long jump. Michael Von Ehr came in sixth for javelin and then qualified for the Class S State Championship.”

Other notable athletes from the Knights at the conference championships included the remainder of the boys’ 4x100 relay team in Vinny Naccarato, James Grace (senior) and John Grace (senior). Lillian Freeman (sophomore) finished the 1600 meters in ninth place with a personal record (PR) and final time of 5:52.77. Brooke Ouelette (freshman) also competed in the 1600 meters, finishing 10th overall with a final time of 5:55.52. Benjamin “Ben” Genovese (freshman) finished in the preliminaries with a PR in the 100 meters (12.53).

Bean commended Brandon Naccarato for his ability to excel in multiple events throughout the campaign and for generating a lot of scoring for the team in every meet.

“Brandon finished second and qualified for the State Opens for the 100 meter dash, but came up short and finished 16th overall. He is the kid that scored the most points for us throughout the season,” said Bean. “He came in second place in the 100 and sixth place in the 200 for Shorelines. He stayed consistent and just did really well for us.”

Westbrook track certainly lived up to the idea of being small and mighty this spring, as they had a tight, close-knit group determined to keep growing the program and gain the interest of other students.

“A big challenge we have is just how small we are. We are a team of 26, we had 12 boys and 14 girls in our program,” said Bauman. “That is our biggest challenge—just numbers and getting the word out about track and field. There is a huge amount of potential and success for our program.”

Bean knows having a small team can be tough because it makes it very difficult to match up with teams that have a lot more depth and flexibility when it comes to placing athletes in different events.

“For track it is like a numbers game, how many solid athletes can you put in different events to score points. When you look at the big picture, the teams that win Shorelines and compete at the state level as a team,” said Bean. “The challenge is always for us, hone in on athletes that can do their best in one or two events, but we do not have the depth that other teams have. It is always how best to place and strategically place athletes so that we get the best out of the tight numbers that we have.”

Throughout the past three or four years that both Bauman and Bean took over as coaches, they have seen a lot of improvement with the individual results of the athletes at the state level.

As she looks ahead to next season on the track, Bauman hopes to see continued growth from the athletes and looks forward to a certain girls’ distance team making big strides. She also looks back on this past campaign with pride knowing the athletes improved from when they first stepped onto the track in the early days of the spring.

“Lillian Bergeron (freshman), Katie Ford, Brooke (Ouellette, freshman) and Lily (Freeman, sophomore) have a lot of potential. It is fun to see this distance squad go out and run on the boys’ side,” said Bauman. “Ben Genovese, a freshman, to see him run faster and faster from indoor to outdoor, it is the best gift. To see the work that you put in come to fruition with their times dropping, I was really proud of them. You have to be patient with the distance runners and to see that talent start to show by the end of the season was really great.”

The Knights full roster was comprised of Ehr, James Grace, John Grace, Hever Gomez (senior, sprinter, hurdler, 4x100 and 4x400 relay), Brandon Naccarato, Vinny Naccarato, Carlos Rosado (senior, sprinter, 4x100 and 4x400 relay), John Heringer (junior, sprints, 4x100 and 4x400 relay, shotput, javelin), Junkyu Ham (sophomore, shotput, discus, javelin), Genovese, Andrew De Sousa (freshman, sprints, 4x100 and 4x400 relay), Austin Loor (freshman, sprints, distance, 4x100 and 4x400 relay), Ava Kaluski (senior, sprinter, shotput, discus), Pierson, Mackenzie True (senior, sprinter, hurdles, 4x100 relay, long jump), Samantha Sharpe (senior, sprinter, shotput, discus), Jamie Freis (junior, sprinter, 4x100 and 4x400 relay), Leticia Pires (junior, 4x100 relay, long jump, triple jump), Kayla Prisley (junior, sprinter, 4x100 relay), Eimy Novillo (sophomore, sprinter, 4x400 relay), Freeman, Bergeron, Alexandra Bransfield (freshman, sprinter, distance), Ford (freshman, sprinter, 4x100 and 4x400 relay), Ouelette, Grace Simonds (freshman, sprinter, 4x100 and 4x400 relay), and Adrianna Spash (freshman, sprinter, 4x100 and 4x400 relay, long jump).