A coaching overhaul within the Edward Little track and field program left senior Alex Hunt and the rest of the team’s javelin throwers wondering if they’d be left to coach themselves this year. 

In the short term, the answer was, “Yes.” 

Two weeks into the outdoor season, the Red Eddies were still in search of a new throwing coach. Hunt and fellow seniors Rebecca Stacey-Outten and Brandon Henry took the reins. 

“It’s cool to teach them because you know they’re going to be the ones to teach other kids,” Hunt said. “You really want to give them as much as you can because next year we seniors aren’t going to be here.”

The results so far? A pair of KVAC champions — Henry and sophomore Britanee Nouchanthavong — at last weekend’s conference championship meet in Bath. Henry recorded a personal record 155 feet, 2 inches and Nouchanthavong threw 112-2 for her first KVAC title. She placed second last year. 

“Me and Alex, we kind of carried on from last year from what we learned with our last throwing coach,” Stacey-Outten said. “We’ve been practicing throughout the year just making sure we were staying in shape so we could continue on with what we learned from last year.” 

Hunt (94-9.5) and Stacey-Outten (91-2.5) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, for the second consecutive year. 

Edward Little found its new throwing coach when Nicolas Keene, an assistant offensive line coach for the Bates College football program, volunteered to take the position.

Keene said his biggest contribution has been in the weight room, helping strengthen the right muscles to make them better throwers. Other than that, Keene said his throwers deserve all the credit. 

“They have really just coached themselves and worked incredibly hard studying the sport, watching videos and working together very hard at javelin,” Keene said. 

Edward Little’s field events — javelin especially — have consistently delivered points for the Red Eddies this season. In five of six meets this year, Nouchanthavong, Hunt and Stacey-Outten all placed in the top five. Henry and Kevin Pham are the top two throwers on the boys’ side. Henry has two first-place finishes, while Pham’s placed second three times this year.

Hunt, Stacey-Outten, Henry and Pham are all seniors, passing on words of wisdom to the younger throwers, like Nouchanthavong. Since coming in second at the Waterville Relays to open the season, Nouchanthavong has won five consecutive events. She set a personal best at River City Rivals in Bangor with a throw of 113-1. 

“She consistently has one of the best attitudes of anyone on the track team I would say,” Keene said. “Outstanding athlete. Overall, incredibly positive. Puts in consistent effort every single day. She’s friendly and a team player and that’s why she’s had so much success at such a young point in her career.” 

Nouchanthavong took third at last year’s state meet with a toss of 107-9 and was the only freshman in the javelin field at the New England meet, where she finished 18th. 

“When Britanee first came in I could really tell that she was dedicated to javelin,” Hunt said. “I really focused a lot of time on helping her because I wanted her to do well because I could tell she really wanted to be here.”

Nouchanthavong said it was Hunt who convinced her to try javelin as a freshman. She threw 85 feet at her first meet and finished third, so she stuck with it. Next year, Nouchanthavong will be taking over the leadership role. 

“A lot of teammates have been really helping me,” Nouchanthavong said. “I feel like I’m a really good inspiration to other people, especially the new kids who will be coming up next year. I’m going to be probably the oldest one who knows the form, so I’m going to be like a teacher next year.” 

Nouchanthavong said her goal before graduating is to break the school’s javelin record, which currently sits at 137 feet. 

Hunt serves as a team captain and her genuine love for the sport is a big reason why. When Edward Little didn’t have a throwing coach in place to start the season, Hunt was more than willing to fill the role. She wanted to give back to the sport. 

“I would just go around the school and sing track’s praises because I came in and was like, ‘Wow, this is just a big family.’ It’s great,” Hunt said. “Everybody knows everybody. It must be great being an underclassmen and having people older to talk to. I appreciated that as a freshman. It’s really nice to have track.” 

Hunt is looking to go out in style this year, hoping to clinch a spot at New Englands. She placed 10th at states last year at 87-11.

As for the coaching changeover, Hunt’s used to it at this point. Keene is her third throwing coach in her four years with the program. 

“You just roll with it,” Hunt said. “You take what you learned and if the new coaches don’t know as much you help them as much as you help your teammates because you want them to do just as well as yourself.” 

As for Stacey-Outten, her inspiration to throw the javelin is no longer at Edward Little, but they still see each other plenty. Her boyfriend, Cole Butler, is the defending Class A state javelin champion, but he transferred to Maine School of Science and Mathematics at the end last school year. 

Stacey-Outten said Butler helped her last year with technique, and seeing him succeed at the sport made her strive to improve. Now, in her final year, she’s passing along his advice to the underclassmen. 

The Red Eddies’ ability to coach themselves kept their performances consistent as everything else changed.

“I think our team does really well staying united as a team and no matter who we have coaching us, we always push each other to do better,” Stacey-Outten said. “We’re a family.”