Photography by Steve Buchanan
Evan Newcomer owes a big debt of gratitude to neighborhood friend Caroline Phillips. It was Phillips who convinced Newcomer, as a 10-year-old, to join the 65-year-old United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps, whose mission is to develop leaders with an eye on self-discipline, service to others, accountability, and patriotism. It eventually gave him a clear career path as he learned more about the military.
Phillips, who is about two years older than Newcomer, became the Chief Petty Officer of the Corp’s Queen Anne’s County unit.
“She mentored me, and I was able to get into the program because of her,” Newcomer says. “I followed her. They have taught me how to be a leader and I have done medical training through them.”
After seven years as a cadet, Newcomer, a senior at Kent Island High, is deciding on whether to attend West Point (officially visited in late-September) or the Naval Academy (early-September). He will make a decision in early 2024.
“It really sparked my love for the military and wanting to serve,” Newcomer says of the Corps. “It introduced me to military life. I want to be a commissioned officer because I want to lead.”
His career goal is to be a trauma surgeon. He carries a 3.8 grade-point average in high school. “I like how the surgeons serve other service members by helping them and taking care of them,” Newcomer says.
Whether the 17-year-old Newcomer goes north to New York or stays close to home in Annapolis, he will run indoor and outdoor track. The sprinter co-captained both teams during his junior year at Kent Island.
When it comes to track, competing in several national events over the past two years left the 5-foot-11, 160-pound Newcomer brimming with pride. He also gained some notoriety.
His success started with running a leg on the second-place 800-meter relay team at the New Balance Track and Field Outdoor Nationals in 2022 at the University of Pennsylvania. Then earlier this year, he was a member of the 1600 sprint medley team that placed second in the Adidas Track and Field Indoor Nations in Virginia Beach.
“It has gotten my name out there on the national level and a lot of coaches,” says Newcomer, who also took part in four other events, including Nike Nationals. “I went up against a higher level of competition and what I need to work on.”
Kent Island Track Coach Justin Holland adds, “It gave him a lot more confidence and that’s big for him.”
Holland recalls Newcomer, then a freshman, being just “one of the kids on the track team. He had a lot of work to be done to be successful.”
Things quickly changed during his sophomore year. Newcomer was part of a state outdoor championship 1,600 relay team in 2022 that also included twins Alex and Will Ransone and Isayah Stewart. Newcomer also finished the 2022 season with regional outdoor titles in 100 and 200. Newcomer got even better during his junior year, winning individual regional titles in the 200- and 400-meters.
Over those two years, he set eight school records, including several individual event times: the 55 (6.62); the 300 (35.89); the 100 (10.84); and the 200 (21.44).
Now, Newcomer’s focus is on Kent Island indoor season this winter and outdoors in 2024. He will be chasing state individual titles—the one thing that he doesn’t have on his resume. He placed fourth in the 200-meter outdoors last year.
Newcomer’s leadership skills and work ethic set him apart from other track athletes. “He leads by example,” says Holland, who is also a coach on the Kent Island football team. “It’s hard to see some of that because he does a lot of training away from practice. I got done with a football game (in October) and I got off the bus and it was like eight o’clock at night. He was on the track running.”
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