It wasn’t long after Dave Jeffrey was hired to coach indoor track and field at Brewer High School that the Witches became a state power.

In his first year the Brewer boys were second at the 1980 state championship meet. The following year the girls won states, and again in 1982 and in 1983.

“Class A for the girls was just getting started,” Jeffrey said. “I guess I came in at the right time.”

And after 24 years of coaching at the school, Jeffrey feels it’s the right time for him to move on.

Jeffrey recently announced his resignation from the indoor coaching position, bringing an end to an era at the school. He had coached outdoor track and field for 17 years before resigning a few years ago.

The Brewer boys and girls combined to win 23 Eastern Maine Indoor Track League titles, seven Class A state girls championships, and one Class A boys state crown.

There were several factors that played into his decision to resign, Jeffrey said.

It hit him when he went several weeks this winter without spending time with his two young children.

And Jeffrey, a special education teacher at Brewer High, is also in a graduate program in educational leadership at the University of Maine.

“That was another trigger,” he said. “I’m really behind the 8-ball in that. I haven’t attacked it the way I need to attack it.”

You can hardly call Jeffrey’s move a retirement. First of all, the 48-year-old intends to stay fully involved in running meets, working with the FinishLynx timing system, and anticipates getting more involved in the administration of the EMITL.

Second, Jeffrey said there’s no reason he wouldn’t get involved in coaching again when his kids are older.

“I could easily get back into it, assuming someone wants me,” he joked.

Jeffrey is a 1972 graduate of Brewer, where he played football, basketball, and was “mediocre at best” in spring track. He went on to play four years of soccer at the University of Maine. Jeffrey was hired to coach the Witches in the fall of 1979. In his first season the Witches lost the state track championship by seven points to Cheverus of Portland.

“I learned more from [the Brewer team] than they learned from me,” he recalled. “… By 1982 we put together a really good girls team.”

The Brewer boys won their state title in 1996. The girls won two in a row in 1987-88 and 1998-99.

The Brewer school committee accepted Jeffrey’s resignation about 31/2 weeks ago, just as the committee was wrestling with a highly publicized issue about another teacher. The resignation went relatively unnoticed.

“That’s kind of the way I like it,” Jeffrey said. “Quiet, with no one knowing.”

Websters team up in Searsport

The Webster sisters have joined forces for the Searsport softball team.

Former Vikings standout Sarah Webster is the team’s head coach. Older sister Kara Taungatu’a is Sarah’s assistant. And TaraLee Webster is Searsport’s ace pitcher.

“It was a bit of an adjustment at first,” Sarah Webster said before leaving for practice Monday. “We all bring different things. I bring the discipline aspect, Kara brings a lot of fun, and TaraLee brings the team together.”

Sarah Webster was a standout at Searsport and went on to play at St. Joseph’s in Standish. She served as an assistant to Mike Garcelon last season and when Garcelon stepped down, Webster said, she was offered the job.

Sarah Webster also works as an administrative assistant at the Ramada Inn in Bangor and lives with Taungatu’a in Searsport.

TaraLee Webster is a senior at Searsport High and will likely head to Husson College in Bangor, Sarah said. TaraLee is recovering from surgery on her right wrist after suffering a break last season, but struck out 12 in an 8-3 win over Deer Isle-Stonington Saturday.

“She’s still working on coming back,” Sarah Webster said. “To get seven good innings [out of her] is still tough.”

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.