University of Maine at Farmington

Sean Cabaniss '17 is the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at UMaine Farmington specializing in sprints, hurdles, jumps, and relays. He was hired in 2020 as the Head Cross Country and Track & Field Coach, and was elevated to the Director position in 2024. He has a rich history at UMF, having founded the track and field program as a student in 2012.

"In the last five years, we have made exciting progress with our programs, and we hope it only continues to accelerate from here. I am excited to continue developing our athletes at a school and within a program that means so much to me", said Cabaniss. 

Under Cabaniss's direction, the Track & Field and Cross Country programs at UMF have flourished. Highlights include:

• 14 Conference Champions and 13 Second Team All-Conference Track & Field athletes

• 42 New England Qualifying performances, 22 of which came within the events group Cabaniss specializes in.

• 35 Indoor School Records, 27 Outdoor School Records

• 2024 NAC Men’s and Women’s Track & Field Runner-up finish (both program records for point total)

• 2 x NAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year (Alixx Canwell 2023 and Ben Vachon 2024)

• 2024 USTFCCCA East All-Region Honors (Alixx Canwell - Hammer Throw, Carrie Burr - Heptathlon)

• 2023 NAC Woman of the Year (Abby Minott)

• 2023 NAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Year (Alixx Canwell)

• 2023 NAC Men’s Cross Country Champions

• 2023 NAC Men’s Runner of the Year (Justin Castaldo) and Rookie of the Year (Ethan Linscott)

• 2022 NAC Men’s Cross Country Runner-up

• Multiple USTFCCCA All-Academic Team Accolades

• 3 NAC Senior Scholar Athletes of the year (Isaiah Reid ‘21, Tabitha Lingar ‘21, Abby Minott ‘23)

Cabaniss has seen great success on the track and course, and he has also made a lasting impact on the community and positively influenced the experience of the student-athletes who go through his program. Under Cabaniss's leadership, the UMF Track Relay for Life events donated over $1,600 to the American Cancer Society over the last four years. He also helped realize the creation of a discus and hammer throw facility at Prescott Fields, improving the quality of the student-athlete experience for throwers in the programs.

In the year prior to UMF, Cabaniss was an assistant coach for jumps and multi-event athletes at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. In his only season at Tufts, Cabaniss helped two athletes garner three All-America honors in the long jump, triple jump, and high jump. Additionally, he guided 15 athletes to the New England Championship, resulting in the New England Champion in the women's long jump and a third-place finish by the women's team. 

Preceding Tufts, Cabaniss was a graduate assistant coach at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he received his Master's degree in Exercise and Sport studies. At Smith, he coached sprints, hurdles, jumps, and multi-events, while guiding athletes to two school records, four New England Championship appearances, and 17 personal bests.

During his time at UMF as a student-athlete, Cabaniss studied secondary education-mathematics, applied mathematics, and coaching. He broke several track and field records and still holds program records in the long jump and triple jump. Additionally, he was a four-year standout with the UMaine-Farmington baseball team, twice setting the team's single-season hits record and finishing his career second among the program's all-time hits leaders. Cabaniss was the recipient of a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, the 2017 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Senior Scholar-Athlete award in men's outdoor track & field, and the 2017 NAC Man of the Year award.

Certifications:
USTFCCCA Jumps Specialist
USTFCCCA Endurance Specialist Certification
USTFCCCA Strength and Conditioning Certification
USTFCCCA Technical Certification
USTFCCCA Injury Management
USTFCCCA Sports Science of the Speed and Power Events
Red Cross First Aid/AED/CPR