LOWELL -- Phil Maia has been the driving force behind the Lowell High boys cross-country and indoor/outdoor track teams' impressive run of more than three decades.
A teacher-coach in the truest sense, the 56-year-old Maia is in his 32nd year as a Spanish and Portuguese teacher at Lowell High School. Maia views the courses his athletes race on as an extension of the classroom, a place where they learn values that make them winners in the game of life.
He has been the head coach of cross country since 1986. He has been the head boys indoor track coach dating to 1997. He was the head outdoor track coach from 1984 to 1997, and now serves as an assistant.