Team Detail Bayside Academy

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Outdoor 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 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 4A 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 2023

Competing at the 4A AHSAA State Meet in Gulf Shores, our young men battled valiantly despite some tough circumstances to our 2023 season. Our team score was very limited at State. Freshman Billy Neill finished seventh in discus, and seniors John Thomas Neill and Ryan McCullough finished eighth in the 800 meter run and 300 meter hurdles respectfully. Our men’s 4x800 meter relay placed fifth overall with seniors Ty Postle, John Thomas Neill, Trey McKean, and freshman Kyle Cooper. One of the highlights of the 2023 season was our men’s 4x800 meter new school record achieved by our seniors, known as the nuggets: Ty Postle, John Thomas Neill, Trey McKean, and Ashton Rowland.

THE HISTORY OF MEN’S OUTDOOR

Men’s Team History

Since the 1989 season, our Outdoor Track & Field young men have finished in the Top Ten 10 times, being State Runner-up three times. We missed out on an opportunity to be State Champs in 2020 due to COVID-19 but achieved our first State Championship title in 2022.

2022 AHSAA 3A State Champions
2021 AHSAA 3A State Runner-Up
2019 AHSAA 3A State Runner-Up
2008 AHSAA 2A State Runner-Up

Year	Classification	Men’s Finish
2023	4A	26th
2022	3A	1st
2021	3A	2nd
2020	3A	No Season
2019	3A	2nd
2018	3A	6th
2017	3A	9th
2016	3A	12th
2015	3A	14th
2014	3A	10th

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. Over this time, our young men have had a total of 50 All State Medalist with 28 of those being State Champions. We have had 13 All State Relay Medalist with five of those being All State Relay Championship Teams. State Champions by event and year are listed below:

Patrick Daves: 110m hurdles ‘21 & '22; 300m hurdles ‘21 & '22; 400m dash '22; triple jump ‘21; high jump ‘21 & '22 ‘21
Brandon Brevard: 100m dash '22; 200m dash '22; shot put '22; javelin '22 (competed as an ambulatory athlete) ‘21
4x400 meter relay '22: Taylor Williams, Stillwell Bacon, John Thomas Neill, Ty Postle
Angus Ladd: pole vault ‘21
4x400 meter relay ‘21: Ryan McCullough, Ashton Rowland, John Thomas Neill, Jay Loper
4x800 meter relay ‘21: Ashton Rowland, John Thomas Neill, Trey McKean, Ty Postle
Christopher Drayton: 400m dash ‘19
Bradley Schmidt: 800m run ‘19; 1600m run ‘19; 3200m run ‘19
Stew Shoemaker: 800m run ‘08, ‘09, & ‘10; 1600m run ‘08, ‘09, & ‘10; 3200m run ‘07, ‘08, & ‘09
Caleb Josephs: pole vault ‘08 & ‘09
Men’s 4x400 meter relay: ‘10
Men’s 4x800 meter relay: ‘08

Men’s Indoor Track & Field Top 3 by Event

For all 18 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 17 seasons as a Head Outdoor Track & Field coach of young men’s and women’s track & field programs (nine 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, ect.), 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 6th 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 nine seasons with Bayside Academy, the Outdoor Track & Field program has seen tremendous growth. Our young women’s team has finished in the Top Five five times, with a State Championship in 2022 and Runner-Up 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 nine seasons, Bayside athletes have earned All-State medalists honors 61 times with 28 of those athletes being individual State Champions. We’ve seen 17 All-State relays with six 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: Owen, a 7th grader at Bayside Academy; Isaac, a 3rd grader at Bayside Academy; and Emersyn, a PK4 student at Bayside Academy.

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