Standish athlete Peyton Dostie at a ceremony celebrating her induction into the Little East Hall of Fame. Dostie ran track and played field hockey at the University of Southern Maine for four years, notably winning the NCAA Division III Pentathlon title in 2016. Contributed / University of Southern Maine

Peyton Dostie, a former three-sport athlete at the University of Southern Maine who grew up and lives in Standish, was recently inducted into the Little East Conference Hall of Fame.

An athlete at USM from 2012 to 2016, Dostie was a member of the field hockey, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field teams. According to a press release from the USM Huskies, Dostie is the third alumna to be selected for the Hall of Fame for both the women’s track and field programs and the field hockey program, joining Emily Artesani Walton and Kim Brewer Giger from the former, as well as Renee Heath-Towne and Jessie Superchi Gaudioso of the latter.

During her time at USM, Dostie racked up a wide range of achievements. In field hockey, she set the school record for points in a season, tied the record for goals in a season, and eventually earned a spot on the National Field Hockey Coaches Association New England West All-Region first team in 2013 and 2014. Meanwhile, as a member of the track and field programs, she accrued 29 individual championships, was named Little East Conference Indoor Track Athlete three times (2013, 2015, 2016), and Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year in 2016.

Dostie’s storied career would culminate in her winning the 2016 NCAA Division III Pentathlon at Grinnell College. According to USM Director of Athletic Communications Christina Cracolici, all Dostie needed to do to was finish the fifth event, the 800-meter, as she had racked up so many points in previous races that no one else could catch up to her. She then went on to win by a considerable margin, earning All-American status in the process. Dostie herself recalled that people in the school hallways would recognize her and compliment her on her victory.

Speaking to the Lakes Region Weekly, Cracolici noted that Dostie could have been inducted for either field hockey or track based on each sport’s individual resume, but she is someone who has the qualities to be in the Hall of Fame based on all of her sports’ resumes.

Bonny Brown-Denico, Dostie’s aunt and former coach, credited the win to Dostie’s work ethic, commitment and the considerable effort that she put into achieving her goals. Describing Dostie as a “true workhorse,” Brown-Denico also joked that she was so committed to getting better every day that she practically lived in the school’s field house.

“She was just one of those one-in-a-million players that coaches get maybe once in a career,” said Brown-Denico of Dostie, “because she was so outstanding and so dedicated and so talented.”

Despite her great achievements, both Cracolici and Brown-Denico described Dostie as one of the humblest people they had ever met. Cracolici recalled a time when Dave Eid of Channel 13 News wanted to do an interview with Dostie, who was the first female national champion from USM. Cracolici, who helped set up the interview, was very excited to see Dostie win, got on the phone with her ahead of the interview, and found that she was surprisingly calm.

“She’s not going to be in your face about any of her accomplishments, ever,” said Cracolici, before joking that “if I won a national championship, you would not hear the end of it.”

Another major influence on Dostie’s athletic career has been her athletic family. Brown-Denico, a former Husky herself, was also an All-American, and Dostie’s mother and father were a field hockey player and a track star, respectively. The athletic prowess extended to the younger generation, with Dostie and her twin sister, Amber, competing together in track, ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer when they were younger. The two originally went to St. Joseph’s College of Maine together, before Peyton transferred to USM because, she said, it felt “more like a school for (her) personally.”

Although she noted that they don’t get to see each other very often, Brown-Denico and Dostie have a very strong connection, and according to the former, there was never any awkwardness over her being related to the coach. In fact, for the first six weeks or so of the first season that Dostie played, nothing was said about her being related to Brown-Denico, but that worked out well, because she was able to prove herself as a great athlete outside of her relationship to the coach.

In the years since graduating, Dostie has maintained considerable ties to the USM community. She has given back to the University Board as an alumna, attends field hockey games and track meets whenever possible, following closely how the teams are doing, and still keeps in touch with her former teammates. After being inducted into USM’s Husky Hall of Fame in 2022, she joined the university’s Hall of Fame Committee the following year, which she describes as being “a cool way to stay connected with current coaches, former coaches and some pretty respectable people who are in the USM community.”

Regarding her recent Hall of Fame induction, Dostie said that it brought back a lot of memories, and it was fun to celebrate with her husband, who she ran track with in college, and their two children.

“It’s definitely humbling,” said Dostie, “and it’s fun to be recognized for my achievements when I was a student athlete at USM.”

Dostie’s induction was celebrated at a small ceremony at Hannaford Field in Gorham, ahead of her former field hockey team’s Little East Conference game against VTSU-Castleton. Dostie is one of 22 individual hall-of-famers from USM, and is, according to Cracolici, not only the first solo national champion to be inducted, but also one of the few who has been honored for multiple sports.