Team Detail Bayside Academy

Athletics

Athletic Calendar

Browse Athletics

Team

Season

Indoor Track & Field - Boys Varsity

2023 - 2024

Head Coach: Joseph Swagart

BAYSIDE ACADEMY’S CORE VALUES

Excellence, Responsibility, Integrity, Leadership, Community, Respect

BAYSIDE ACADEMY BOYS VARSITY INDOOR TRACK & FIELD

With Bayside Academy’s Mission Statement and Core Values in mind, our goal through Bayside Academy Indoor 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 6A 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

Winter 2024

Competing at the 6A AHSAA for the second consecutive year because of the AHSAA’s competitive balance factor towards private schools only, our young men’s team unfortunately did not qualify any individuals to the AHSAA State Meet. We had a small team this year with two of our three athletes being first-year athletes.

Due to the competitive balance factor enacted by the AHSAA, our Indoor Track & Field program at Bayside Academy will compete in the 4A/5A classification for the 2024-2026 school years.

THE HISTORY OF MEN’S INDOOR

Men’s Team History

With the return of the Indoor Track & Field for the AHSAA in 2012, our Indoor Track and Field program has seen great success at State track & field meets. In these 11 seasons, our young men have finished in the top 10 seven consecutive seasons.

2022 AHSAA 4A/5A State Runners-Up
2020 AHSAA 1A-3A State Champions
2019 AHSAA 1A-3A State Runners-Up

Year	Classification	Men’s Finish
2024	6A	-
2023	6A	19th
2022	4A/5A	2nd
2021	4A/5A	3rd
2020	1A-3A	1st
2019	1A-3A	2nd
2018	1A-3A	4th
2017	1A-3A	6th
2016	1A-3A	9th
2015	1A-3A	18th
2014	1A-4A	14th
2013	1A-4A	13th
2012	1A-4A	11th

AHSAA All-State Medalist & State Champions

With the return of the Indoor Track & Field for the AHSAA in 2012, our young men have had a total of 25 All State Medalists, with 11 of those being State Champions. We have had 11 All State Relay Medalists, with three of those being All State Relay Championship Teams. State Champions by event and year are listed below:

Patrick Daves: 60 meter hurdles ‘19, ‘20, ‘21, ‘22; high jump ‘20, ‘21, ‘22; triple jump ‘20 & ‘21
Bradley Schmidt: 1600 meter run ‘19; 3200 meter run ‘19
4x400 meter relay ‘22: Ty Postle, John Thomas Neill, Ashton Rowland, Gerrit Robbins
4x400 meter relay ‘20: Christopher Drayton, Myles Cook, Gerrit Robbins, Ryan McCullough
4x800 meter relay ‘18: Luke Dobbins, Robert Sullivan, Bradley Schmidt, Myles Cook

Men’s Indoor Track & Field Top 3 by Event

For all 14 events and the pentathlon, these are our young men’s Top Three by event.

TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES AT THE COLLEGIATE LEVEL

Patrick Daves ‘22: The University of Alabama
Jackson Olsen ‘22: Lees-McRae College
Myles Cook ‘20: Spring Hill College
Christopher Drayton ‘20: Berry College
Luke Dobbins ‘18: Samford University
Ash Midyett ‘16: The University of the South

HEAD COACH JOE SWAGART

Through 13 seasons as a Head Indoor Track & Field coach of young men’s and women’s track & field programs (10 years at Bayside Academy and three 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.

Indoor Track & Field resumed for the 2011-2012 season when the city of Birmingham completed its CrossPlex facility. Competing in a combined 1A-4 classification and building interest from CHCA student-athletes, Coach Swagart’s athletes earned All-State honors three times, with one young man earning individual State titles in the 400m and 800m in 2012. The highest team finish occurred in 2014 with the young women finishing 10th and young men 11th.

In Coach Swagart’s 10 seasons with Bayside Academy, the Indoor Track & Field program has seen tremendous growth, having 10 teams finish in the top five. Our women have finished State Runner-up three times, twice as 1A-3A and once as 4A/5A, and our young men won our school’s first Indoor title in 2020 and have finished State Runner-up twice, once as 1A-3A and once as 4A/5A. During this time, Bayside athletes have earned All-State medalists honors 41 times, with 15 individual State champions. We’ve also had 16 All-State relays, with four of those winning their event.

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: Owen, a 7th grader at Bayside Academy; Isaac, a 3rd grader at Bayside Academy; and Emersyn, a PK4 student at Bayside Academy.

Overall Statistics