Stuart Bowen has worked diligently over the years to make the Cumberland County High School track team into a continuous competitor at the state championship.
And the hard work is paying off. In just the last two years, CCHS has been well-represented in both track and field events at the state event. In 2024, Bowen sent Zach Ostrander in the 3200 meters, and a girls 4×800 meter relay team.
For his hard work, Bowen was chosen for the 2024 Chronicle Award for Coach of the Year at Cumberland County High School.
“I think it shows the staff, administration and fellow coaches understand the amount of time we as coaches put into this,” said Bowen about the honor. “Almost all of our kids are multi-sport kids, so we share a lot.
“I appreciate everybody in the school working together to give these kids every opportunity we can give them, to make sure the kids get the best high school experience possible.”
Former bowling coach Daniel Rickman was the Cumberland County 2023 Coach of the Year.
“One of the reasons we’ve had good success is because we set a standard for this program,” Bowen said. “For individuals, the state meet is our goal. We do things all year to gear ourselves for that.
“We want to get kids on the state medal stand. We knew we had a handful of kids that would be in a position to capitalize on that this past year.”
The fact Bowen was able to put anyone in the state meet was fantastic. CCHS was one of the youngest teams heading into 2024, with half the kids on the roster were in their first year competing in track.
“We knew it would be a mixed bag heading into this year,” Bowen said. “We didn’t look at winning meets this year, we looked at developing kids to be successful over the next three or four years.
“We thought this would be a year where we had a lot of bright spots, but we also knew we were going to have growing pains. We took our time, and let kids have the opportunity to grow, and by the end of the year you could see it paying off.”
Bowen said a lot of the credit for his team’s success stems from not only his coaching, but also the knowledge and experience of his coaching staff. He said he and his staff, combined, have probably over 100 years of coaching experience.
“I thought we grew a lot this year,” Bowen said about his team. “Scores and times that used to make it to the state weren’t even close anymore. Dom Alfaro improved his discus by 30 feet and didn’t make the state.
“Eden Kean ran so well and he is going to give himself a chance to win a lot of races next year in the hurdles. Unfortunately, he didn’t make the state.
“For the long term, last year was a learning year, and we will advance our training next year. However, it was a very good season for everyone.”
By any standards, the CCHS girls had a good season.
“Caylin Hale had a lot of success in sprinting initially, but she tried the 800 and was 1A or 1B for us all season,” Bowen said. “Linsey Colton came on strong. Lexi Carroll was right there with Linsey.
“Lexi was the one that pulled us into the state meet last year. She’s super tough, shows up every day. Ivy Watson, we had her as a jumper, but we had hurdles out one day in practice and she picked it up quick. All of sudden she’s the second fastest hurdler in school history. It is such a good team.”
In January, Bowen will get his track and field athletes into the weight room in preparation for the 2025 season.
“We don’t lose anybody. Next year this team should be very good,” Bowen said. “We have a lot of talent coming back, a lot of good leaders. This girls team could be something special.”
And how will 2025 be as successful as each of the previous years?
“Well, you don’t sleep much,” Bowen said. “Every day we try to instill being a good teammate, work hard, do what you’re suppose to do, and trust what we ask you to do.
“Doing things the right way is the only way we can do this. We need to make sure the standard remains, and that we work to reach that standard every day. These kids understand that.”