Team Detail

Excellence, Responsibility, Integrity, Leadership, Community, Respect

 

With Bayside Academy’s Mission Statement and Core Values in mind, our goal through Bayside Academy 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/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:

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 14 seasons, our women have finished in the Top Ten every season except 2020 and 2023. 

Year	Classification	Women’s Finish
2025	4A/5A	1st
2024	6A	7th
2023	6A	13th
2022	4A/5A	2nd
2021	4A/5A	7th
2020	1A-3A	11th
2019	1A-3A	2nd
2018	1A-3A	5th
2017	1A-3A	2nd
2016	1A-3A	8th
2015	1A-3A	4th
2014	1A-4A	2nd
2013	1A-4A	4th
2012	1A-4A	7th

With the return of the Indoor Track & Field for the AHSAA in 2012, our young women have had a total of 35 All State Medalists, with seven of those being State Champions. We have had 10 All State Relay Medalists, with four of those being All State Relay Championship Teams. State Champions by event and year are listed below:

• 4x400 meter relay '25: Annie Midyett, Kate Huey, Stella Parks, Avery Therrell
• 4x800 meter relay '25: Annie Midyett, Catherine Doyle, Avery Therrell, Ansleigh Smith
• Annie Midyett: 800 meter run ‘22
• Alex Cook: pole vault ‘20
• Catherine West:  high jump ‘19 & ’20
• Amber Mason: shot put ‘18;  long jump ‘18
• Mary Catherine Branyon: 800 meter run ‘16
• 4x800 meter relay ‘22: Annie Midyett, Catherine Doyle, Amelia Wells, Grace Dawson
• 4x200 meter relay ‘12

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

Completing his 19th season as a head coach for young men’s and women’s cross country and track & field at Bayside Academy and previously Cottage Hill Christian Academy, Coach Swagart’s teams and athletes are coached to give their best and compete at their fullest potential. With eight AHSAA State Championships, 15 AHSAA
State Runners-up, and three AISA State Runners-up, we do our best to help our teams excel regardless of the program’s AHSAA classification. Coach Swagart has been recognized as the Press-Register Coach of the Year three times and the USTFCCCA Girls Cross Country of the Year in 2021. Coach Swagart has a USATF Level 1 Certification and has completed the USTFCCCA Endurance Coach Certification.

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, each who attends Bayside Academy: Owen, Isaac, and Emersyn.