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Outdoor Track & Field - Girls Varsity

2024 - 2025

Head Coach: Joseph Swagart

BAYSIDE ACADEMY’S CORE VALUES

Excellence, Responsibility, Integrity, Leadership, Community, Respect

BAYSIDE ACADEMY GIRLS VARSITY OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD

With Bayside Academy’s Mission Statement and Core Values in mind, our goal through Bayside Academy Outdoor Track and Field is to continue the excellence established in the past and press on to achieve our best today. Our program competes in the AHSAA at the 5A classification for athletes in the 7th through 12th grade, from beginners to multiple season performers. Each athlete should seek to do their best, give 100% effort in all that they do, and encourage one another not just in our sport. To do this, we will do all things with TEAM as our focus, although training will be individualized based on the ability and experience of the athlete. Our athletes will not only train together to become better competitors, but learn how and why the training they do develops them into a stronger athlete and person. We will hold to this COMMITMENT as our sense of responsibility and respect to self and others, striving for excellence in all of our endeavors.

These three words and descriptions will be our point of emphasis this year:

Team: We will enjoy what we do with one another, building up one another through common experiences and trials.
Excellence: We will do all things to the best of our ability, disciplined to do all things the right way and all the way.
Commitment: We will always be there for one another, realizing this is what keeps us together and helps us reach our goals.

“To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.”

~ Steve Prefontaine, All-American Distance Runner & Legend

Spring 2024

Going into the 4A AHSAA State meet, our young women were the strong favorites to win a State Championship. Our women scored 108 points dominating the field, with the closest finisher being Cherokee County with 66 points. Junior Catherine Doyle led the way for our young women, winning the 1600 meter and 3200 meter run and finishing third in the 800-meter run. Seventh grader Avery Therrell won the 800-meter run and anchored our State Champion women’s 4x400 meter relay and 4x800 meter relays. The 4x400 meter relay included juniors Kate Huey and Annie Midyett and 8th grader Stella Parks. They broke the 4x400 meter relay school record by more than seven seconds. The 4x800 meter relay included juniors Grace Dawson, Amelia Wells, and Annie Midyett. Sophomore Shelby Fargason finished second in the 3200 meter run and third in the 1600 meter run. Annie
Miydett finished second in the 800 meter run and fourth in the 1600 meter run. Other individuals to score at the state meet include junior Madeline Dudley (5th in high jump, 6th in long jump, and 6th in triple jump), 7th grader Abby DiMatteo (4th in high jump and 7th in long jump).

THE HISTORY OF WOMEN’S OUTDOOR

Women’s Team History

Since the 1989 season, our Outdoor Track & Field young women have finished in the Top Ten 14 consecutive years and a total of 30 times. Our young women have finished in the Top Two 12 times, winning a State title six times.

2024 AHSAA 4A State Champions
2023 AHSAA 4A State Runner-Up
2022 AHSAA 3A State Champions
2013 AHSAA 3A State Champions
2012 AHSAA 3A State Champions
2011 AHSAA 3A State Runner-up
2010 AHSAA 3A State Runner-up
1995 AHSAA 1A State Champions
1994 AHSAA 1A State Runner-up
1993 AHSAA 1A State Champions
1992 AHSAA 1A State Runner-up
1991 AHSAA 1A State Runner-up

Year	Classification	Women’s Finish
2024	4A	1st
2023	4A	2nd
2022	3A	1st
2021	3A	3rd
2020	3A	No Season - COVID
2019	3A	8th
2018	3A	4th
2017	3A	3rd
2016	3A	9th
2015	3A	7th

AHSAA All-State Medalist & State Champions

Bayside Academy has participated in AHSAA State meet for Outdoor Track & Field since 1989. During this time, we have competed in the smallest classification, 1A, to our current classification of 4A (5A in 2025). Over this time, our young women have had a total of 125 All State Medalists with 47 of those being State Champions. We have had 39 All State Relay Medalists with 16 of those being All State Relay Championship Teams. State Champions by event and year are listed below:

Avery Therrell: 800m run '24
Catherine Doyle: 1600m run '24, 3200m run '24
4x400 meter relay '24: Kate Huey, Stella Parks, Annie Midyett, Avery Therrell
4x800 meter relay '24: Amelia Wells, Grace Dawson, Annie Midyett, Avery Therrell
4x800 meter relay '23: Grace Dawson, Amelia Wells, Catherine Doyle, Annie Midyett
Annie Midyett: 800m run '22, 1600m run '22, & 3200m run '22
Leah Jha: 100m hurdles ‘21 & '22
Madeline Dudley: high jump ‘21
4x400 meter relay ‘21: Leah Jha, Madeline Dudley, Annie Midyett, Nina Dowhan
Alex Cook: pole vault ‘19
Catherine West: high jump ’19
Amber Mason: long jump ‘17 & ‘18
Lauren Chastang: shot put ‘17
4x400 meter relay ‘17: Caroline Young, Mary Catherine Branyon, Emily Miller, Darby Kemper
Trista Barry: high jump ‘12, ‘13, & ‘14
Alona Melendez: 100m hurdles ‘10, ‘11, ‘12, & ‘13; 300m hurdles ‘10, ‘11, ‘12, & ‘13; high jump ‘10 & ‘11
Emory Builta: discus ‘11 & ‘13
Shelby Builta: shot put ‘10; discus ‘09, ‘10; javelin ‘09, ‘10
Sophie Bru: pole vault ‘07, ‘08, & ‘09
Caroline Gill: high jump ‘07
Britt Fuller: 200m dash ‘95
Kelli Klein: triple jump ‘95
Ashley Fuller: 800m run ‘93
Alex Leigh: 1600m run ‘91 & ‘92; 3200m run ‘91 & ‘92; long jump ‘92
Women’s 4x100 meter relay: ‘94 & ‘95
Women’s 4x400 meter relay ‘08, ‘11, ‘13, & ‘14
Women’s 4x800 meter relay ‘89, ‘91, ‘92, ‘98, & ‘11

Women’s Indoor Track & Field Top 3 by Event

For all 18 events and the pentathlon, these are our young women’s Top Three by event.

TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES AT THE COLLEGIATE LEVEL

Alex Cook ‘20: Samford University
Amber Mason ‘18: Spring Hill College

HEAD COACH JOE SWAGART

Through 18 seasons as a Head Outdoor Track & Field coach of young men’s and women’s track & field programs (10 years at Bayside Academy and eight years at Cottage Hill Christian Academy), Coach Joe Swagart has helped hundreds of young people develop a passion for track & field while also helping them develop into responsible young adults.

Coach Swagart places an emphasis on team, excellence, and commitment. Success in track & field is found through commitment, discipline, and desire. Individuals on a team show commitment by attending team practices and events, by finishing what they start, and by having patience with the process. Individuals on a team show discipline by how they follow instruction, how they change the way they live (nutrition, sleep, etc.), and how they finish what they start. Individuals on a team show desire by how they compete and train, how they take care of themselves, and how they treat others. When individuals come together with the same purpose, we will compete as a team at the highest level we can. We will commit to a level of excellence that shows we are giving our best in all that we do, that we give 100% in achieving our goals, and by how we encourage each other along the way.

In Coach Swagart’s first two seasons with Cottage Hill, his programs competed in the Alabama Independent School Association (AISA) where his young women’s team finished State Runner-Up in 2008, including nine All-State medalists, three All-State relays, and six individual State Champions. In six seasons with the AHSAA, under Coach Swagart’s leadership, CHCA’s highest team finish occurred in 2014, with his young women finishing 3A AHSAA Runner-Up. The highest young men’s team finish of sixth place occurred in 2011 and 2012. Through those six seasons, Coach Swagart had 22 All-State medalists, five All-State relays, with 10 individual State Champions and two relay champions. He had three different athletes set new State Meet records in the 200 meter dash, triple jump, and pole vault.

In Coach Swagart’s 10 seasons with Bayside Academy, the Outdoor Track & Field program has seen tremendous growth. Our young women’s team has finished in the Top Five six times, with State Championships in 2022 and 2024 and a State Runner-Up finish in 2023. Our young men’s team has been State Runner-up two consecutive seasons (2019 & 2021), hoping to win it in the cancelled 2020 season due to COVID but achieving that feat with a State Championship in 2022. During these 10 seasons, Bayside athletes have earned All-State medalists honors 70 times, with 31 of those athletes being individual State Champions. We’ve seen 19 All-State relays, with eight of those winning their relay.

Coach Swagart attended college at the University of South Alabama, earning a B.S. in Mathematics & Statistics in 2004 and M. Ed. in Secondary Education in 2018. He is married to Nancy Swagart. He and his wife have three children, all of whom attend Bayside Academy: Owen, an 8th grader; Isaac, a 4th grader; and Emersyn, a kindergartener.

Overall Statistics

Wins	Losses	Ties	percentage
0	0	0	0

Outdoor Track & Field - Girls Varsity

Thursday, 2/27/2025

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