Scouting Reports: Westbrook Girls

Last year was a great year for the lady Blue Blazes as they went 18-1-1 in SMAA regular season competition, before finishing 5th at Southwesterns, and 14th in the Class A State meet. Westbrook was very young last year with ¾ of the team freshman. With another year of maturity and a strong offseason Westbrook is poised for an even better season in 2014-15 as they look to establish themselves as one of the top programs.

The strengths of the program will be the distance squad led by Class A XC state champion Halee Phelps. Coach Even says, "I am very impressed with our distance crew so far this winter. It is the smallest part of our team, but it is full of kids who have the ability to qualify and even place at states. We return our whole 4x8 team who each also individually qualified. A few of the other sophomores have stepped up their game and have put themselves in a position to be successful."

Also look out for the sprint crew led by 2014 Class A 400m champion Brittney Arsenault. "Our sprinters will be a huge factor for us as well, with a lot of talent returning plus a few new faces. Sprints will probably be the deepest part of our team in the early going. We have a lot of unknowns on the field side of things, but certainly a lot of potential. Senior Emma Berry is the only upperclassmen out of that group, and then the rest are freshman and sophomores. The goal is to have a well-rounded team by February." Even says.

Coach Even is also excited about sophomore Rachael Dyer who was injured a year ago but ran 1:03.00 in the 400 as a freshman outdoors. He also expects big things from a pair of freshman sprinters, Shydear Best & Maddison Lebeau.  More on Best from Coach Even "she's is a sprinter who ran for Portland Schools last year, and moved into town this summer. She’s a strong kid who works hard and fits in nicely with our team." 

Youth will also be served as their are 21 freshman out for the team, so the chances that a few more emerge seems likely.

Coach Even says ....

"We are hoping to be one of the top teams at the end of the year. We have a lot of talent to work with, both returning and new. The key for us is to have the impact freshman and newcomers from last year make the jump to the next level here this winter. We have 60 girls on our roster with 26 of them being sophomores, so they will be a big part of our success. Early in the preseason that whole crew has looked strong so we will see where it goes. It certainly helps to have a few state champions in seniors Brittney Arsenault and Halee Phelps leading the team. Their “lead by example” attitude trickles down to everyone, which helps create a winning environment from which to build."

A look at the distance & sprinting depth