East Lyme and Stonington announced the hiring of new indoor track and field coaches on Wednesday.

Chris Morth, a Waterford graduate and former outdoor track and field coach at Griswold High School, will take over the East Lyme boys’ indoor program following the retirement of Steve Hargis while Bruce Dixon will guide the Stonington boys’ and girls’ indoor programs following the retirement of Ben Bowne.

“We are thrilled to hire a quality coach and person in Chris Morth to lead our boys’ indoor track program,” East Lyme athletic director Kevin Marcoux said in a release. “He has had nothing but success in every position he has held. Aside from being a great coach, he is a tremendous role model for our student-athletes. We look forward to watching him continue to challenge our athletes to compete at the local and state level.”

Morth has been with East Lyme’s boys’ and girls’ programs as an assistant since 2019. He is a member of the English department at Fitch High School.

“Since arriving at East Lyme, we’ve continued to build upon the amazing foundation that already existed with a steady flow of ECC and State Championships across all three sports,” Morth said. “I’m looking forward to leading the boys’ track program moving forward, building upon the great atmosphere and tradition that Coach Steve Hargis created before me.”

Dixon takes over another successful program at Stonington. He currently serves as an assistant football coach at Norwich Free Academy and is also part of the security staff at Stonington.

“His enthusiasm and desire to teach and mentor student-athletes will be a great asset to Stonington High School,” athletic director Bryan Morrone said of Dixon in a release. “I am confident Coach Dixon can continue to inspire our athletes to work, improve and succeed while participating in the SHS track program.”