Photo by Jimmy Mitchell.
Dale Carrell, far left, has been the Westminster School at Oak Mountain head track and field coach since the Knights joined the Alabama High School Athletic Association prior to the 2008-09 academic year.
Between its two teams, the Westminster School at Oak Mountain track and field program has clinched three state championships, nine state runner-up finishes and 16 consecutive section titles.
It also has produced numerous individual state champions, including a few who reset longstanding Alabama records.
All of this has been accomplished in less than a decade — and without an on-campus track.
“We practice where we can,” said Knights head coach Dale Carrell.
Carrell, the reigning boys track and field coach of the year for Alabama, has built the Westminster program into an annual contender at the small school level since it joined the Alabama High School Athletic Association prior to the 2008-09 academic year. The Knights compete in Class 1A-3A during the indoor season, which runs from December to February, and in 1A during the outdoor season, which picks up after indoor and lasts until May.
The sheer volume of hardware underscores their success.
“I think the biggest thing is, God has just blessed us with good kids,” Carrell said. “These kids work hard every day.”
The Knights enter the 2017-18 indoor season following one of their most successful campaigns in school history. The Westminster girls secured runner-up finishes at last year’s indoor and outdoor state meets, while the boys broke through in outdoors to clinch their first-ever state crown.
The triumph resulted in Carrell being named the state coach of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
“It was crazy,” Carrell said. “I looked at some of the names of some of the guys who had received it before, and I was very humbled because a lot of those guys I look up to asbeing mentors.”
That list includes Hoover’s Devon Hind and Homewood’s Tom Esslinger, who have established powerhouse programs at the 6A and7A levels.
Carrell has built a similar stalwart at Westminster, despite facing challenges rarely encountered at larger schools. The difference is in the numbers.
Whereas a program like Hoover may field a team with close to 150 athletes, Westminster boasts a roster — including both boys and girls — that is usually less than one-third of that size.
It’s not like other 1A schools operate under more optimal circumstances. At Westminster, however, Carrell has mastered the art of maximizing his talent and resources.
A science teacher by day, he stresses attention to detail and technique.
“It’s very personal,” said senior Pierce Moffett, who has run since seventh grade. “Coach is able to look at us individually because we only have 30 or 40 runners as opposed to 100 where the coach has to pay attention to everybody.”
Carrell credits the cooperation of other Westminster coaches, particularly those involved with Knights accomplished soccer program, for enabling track and field’s success. He said his teams normally have five to six boys and seven to eight girls who shuffle between sports.
“We just work together because we know you have to,” Carrell said. “You’re a small school, and you don’t have enough to fill out a team by yourself.”
But there also are benefits to a small roster. Moffett and fellow senior Sarah Kate Lipperd, who has run since seventh grade as well, said the Knights track and field program feels more like a family than a team.
Such unity engenders success.
“I think having chemistry among your team is super important and I think that is something that has worked because we’re not competitive with one another,” Lipperd said. “We more like care about working together and pushingeach other.”