LEWISTON — Keith Weatherbie is enjoying retirement by wearing sandals and hanging around the pool.

But this isn’t your average retiree’s means of recreation.

Like many coaches and teachers, Weatherbie couldn’t stay away from the classroom or coaching for long. Despite retiring from decades of coaching and teaching at Cape Elizabeth, Weatherbie returned to both endeavors at St. Dominic Regional High School.

When the Saints were in need of a new swim coach this winter, the longtime coach and athletic director didn’t find what he was looking for but discovered what he needed. The coach he ultimately hired was himself.

With no other interested candidates to take over the Saints swimming program, Weatherbie stepped in a week before the season began. 

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Weatherbie said Friday as St. Dom’s hosted a meet with Lewiston at the Lewiston YMCA. “It does take away from being the athletic director, but I love it. I’ve had a great time.”

Despite the time constraint and the fact that Weatherbie had never coached swimming before, he’s been a natural fit for the small Saints swimming team. He brings enthusiasm and coaching experience to a program looking to replace Marc Robitaille after seven seasons.

“I was a little surprised at first, but I really enjoy Keith and he’s a really great coach,” junior Megan D’Alessandro said. “I’m really impressed with his workouts. I’ve gotten so much better because of them.”

After retiring from decades at Cape Elizabeth, Weatherbie has taught and coached at St. Dom’s for six years. He was hired as the new athletic director last summer. So when he stepped into the void just prior to the winter sports season, he at least provided a familiar face to the job.

“I knew Mr. Weatherbie from before,” senior Wesley Haire said. “He’s definitely a favorite from among the teachers. So I knew him personally. I also knew he was a track coach and knew he had knowledge about conditioning. So I was confident and he’s definitely proved himself.”

Though he didn’t have any experience in coaching swimming, Weatherbie has had plenty of coaching experience. He figured he knew enough about working with kids that that could translate his knowledge to a different sport.

“I’d never coached swimming before, but at Cape Elizabeth, we had some great swim teams,” Weatherbie said. “When I realized that I was going to be the coach, I contacted some of the swim coaches I had at Cape Elizabeth. That gave me some workouts. We have a priest, Father (Steven) Cartwright. He coached at Georgetown University. He helped out with workouts. So it’s been a learning experience, but it’s been a lot of fun.”

Weatherbie says that kids want someone with enthusiasm. Swimming is a different sport, where there are no bench-warmers and everyone participates. The goal is to progressively get better. Weatherbie coached something similar at Cape, where a young Joan Benoit Samuelsson was one of his student athletes.

“At Cape Elizabeth, before I became the athletic director, I coached cross country and track,” he said. “So I was able to incorporate some of the things I did in coaching those sports into coaching here. The key is the kids. They work so hard. They’re all good students.”

Weatherbie juggles his time as athletic director with the coaching duties. The swim team practices every day. Debbie Haire, Wesley’s mom,  helps coach the morning sessions.

So far, the experience has been a great one for Weatherbie and the swimmers.

“I think we were all unsure what was going to happen,” D’Allessandro said. “We were all used to Mr. Robitaille coaching. I think it was a bit of a transition, but everyone adapted really well.”

Though the Saints lost the meet to Lewiston by a wide margin, St. Dom’s had some positive performances and the team is having fun.

“Kids are PRing like there’s no tomorrow,” Haire said. “It’s a really great atmosphere. It’s been a great season, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.”

Linsday Cook and Elizabeth Perkins each won races Friday. Cook won the 100 backstroke, while Perkins won the 200 IM and added a second in the 100 freestyle.

D’Alessandro was second in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.

“Everyone had a really good race today,” D’Alessandro said. “I took five seconds off my time in the 200 freestyle and am now five seconds from the state cut time.”

Haire was second in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events.

“It was a really great meet for the team and individuals,” Haire said. “I was only a couple tenths of a second off my PR in the 50 freestyle and I did PR in the 1oo freestyle.”

Though Lewiston outnumbered St. Dom’s in size and experience, the Saints had some positive performances.

“We’re a small team, but we did a real good job,” Weatherbie said. “Most of our kids had their best scores. So I’m really happy with it.”

Lewiston sweeps

Lewiston won the meets Friday in convincing fashion. The Blue Devils won with 105-37 in the girls’ and 103-24 on the boys’ side. 

“I thought the swimmers swam well,” said Lewiston coach Troy Boutin. “We had some swimmers get best times. On average, the swimmers had good swims for where they are in the season.”

Boutin said the team has been working hard in practice lately and may not have been at peak performance, but Lewiston still managed some impressive efforts.

“I didn’t expect them to be approaching record, but they were coming close,” Boutin said.

Leading the boys’ team was Matt Charest, who won four events. The senior won both the 100 and 200 freestyle and joined Lennon LaBelle, Haden Bavis and Caleb Lebrun for wins  in the 200 freestyle relay and the 200 medley relay.  In the 100 freestyle, Charest just missed the 30-year old pool record with his winning time of  50.64.

LeBelle, a freshman, just missed a school mark in the 100 backstroke with his win in 57.65.

Other winners for the boys’ team was Ian Hussey, who won the 50 freestyle and won the 400 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay with Gary Ackley, Francisco Gonzalez and Jacob Ouellette.

In addition to wins in the relays, Bavis won the 100 breast and Lebrun won the 500 freestyle.  The boys also got wins from Bryce Cloutier (200 IM) and Everett McNalley (100 butterfly).

In the girls’ meet, Kaitlyn Reny and Brooke Cloutier each won multiple events. Cloutier won the 100 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle. She was also on the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams with Abbie Howe, Elizabeth Small and Ashley Cronkite.  Reny won the 100 butterfly and the 500 freestyle. She joined Hannah Dickinson, Kelsey St. Cyr and Sophia Turgeon on the 400 freestyle relay team.

In addition to their wins in the relay, St. Cyr also won the 200 freestyle while Howe won the 100 freestyle.

“We always like swimming against St. Dom’s,” Boutin said. “They’re always a spirited bunch and we enjoy ourselves.”

Because it was a small meet and Lewiston so out-numbered the Saints, the Blue Devils were often racing amongst themselves. 

“I think it’s a test of individual swimmers if you go out and swim best times if you don’t have competitors in every event,” Boutin said. “The ability to go out and swim your best times when there’s no one on either side of you is a sign of a good swimmer.”

kmills@sunjournal.com