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07/07/2016 12:00 AMWhen Turner Davis recently graduated from Westbrook High School, he was concluding a terrific four-year tenure both in the classroom and on the athletic field.
Turner was a staple on the National Honor Society at Westbrook and also took home the 2016 Senior Athlete Award based on how well he performed and how effectively he led Knights’ boys’ track as a captain. Turner excelled in the high jump and 400-meter dash during the spring season and he also competed in the 100, triple jump, and long jump, plus the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. Turner took second place in the high jump with a height of 5 feet-8 inches at the Shoreline Conference Championship and he also finished fourth in the 400 behind a time of 52.16 seconds to help Westbrook finish fifth as a team. Turner later ran a 53.14 in the 400 to place ninth at the Class S State Championship.
“I’m a pretty competitive person and strive to get my heights up and times down. I want to better myself and see the improvement,” Turner says. “I was decent as a freshman, but worked really hard to get good by hitting the weight room and working in and out of practice.”
Turner’s hard work earned him the honor of captaining the Westbrook boys’ indoor track team in its inaugural season this past winter. This spring, Turner held that title again when he led the Knights’ outdoor squad as a captain.
“Turner is an athlete who people want to follow because he leads by example,” says Tim Marshall, who’s head coach of both teams. “He doesn’t ask anyone to do anything he wouldn’t do and he works harder than he expects anyone else to work.”
Turner embraced being a leader and he excelled in that role outside of the track just as much as he did on it. One of the ways Turner did that was by helping to organize a charity walk to defeat a brain condition called Chiari malformation.
“I believe I am a natural leader for the most part and I liked to have that title,” Turner says. “Helping people is something I enjoy, so it was nice to have the younger guys look to me to be there for them. It was nice to have that leadership role and I tried to embrace it as best I could.”
Turner also played soccer for two seasons at Westbrook and, even though he didn’t play in his senior year, Turner still stayed aboard as the team’s manager. This coming fall, Turner will attend Bryant University in Rhode Island, where he’s been offered a chance to walk on to the Division I school’s track program. Turner is excited to be moving on to college, but will definitely miss being a student-athlete at Westbrook.
“I’d like to keep doing track in college and focus just on the 400-meter run and the high jump. Track has helped me manage my time. It’s a great outlet for stress relief and a way to get away from everything and get your head into a different place,” Turner says. “Graduating is bittersweet because I had some close-knit relationships with my teammates and teachers, like my Spanish teacher Bob Synott. And I have to thank Coach Marshall, Sheridan Bauman, Heather Pierce, and Jordan Bean. But it will also be nice to move on to something bigger.”
Coach Marshall feels that Turner has the competitive mindset and compassionate spirit to succeed at whatever he does in the next stage of his life.
“Turner is just a good person. He cares about people and, in track, it is interesting how you can want others to do their best. You just want them to do better than their best,” Marshall says. “Turner would want all the other athletes to do well, but he also wanted to do better than them. He wants to be the best and will do whatever it takes to get it done.”