Ann Basu

Last weekend, the women’s and men’s track and field teams hosted a home invitational against seven other schools, with the men’s team taking first and the women’s taking second overall. The men’s team easily earned first place with 158 points over second-place University of Maine Farmington, while the women’s team fell to the University of Southern Maine by a narrow 20 points.

Standout performances for the men’s team included those by John Pietro ’18 and Vinnie LaRovere ’18, who garnered high praise from the team captains and Head Coach Peter Slovenski. Pietro was named NESCAC Performer of the Week after winning all three of the men’s throwing events—the shot put, discus and hammer throw. LaRovere earned second place in the same events.

“This is the deepest throwing lineup we’ve had for men and women at Bowdoin in the past 20 years,” said Slovenski in an email to the Orient. “Our throwers are going to do some great things in the hammer, shot, discus and javelin this season. Meghan Bellerose [’17] has been an all-star runner for our team for four years, but this season she has moved up another level. She’s ready for a very fast month of running, and a good run at the school record.”

Ann Basu

Other standout first-place performances included those by Sarah Kinney ’19 for the 3000-meter steeplechase, Bellerose for the 800-meter race and Caroline Shipley ’20 in the 400-meter race.

Captains Garrett Thomas ’17 and Pamela Zabala ’17 said they are excited about the season’s prospects after the teams’ strong performances.

“This week, we’re facing Middlebury, Colby, [University of Southern Maine]—a lot of bigger competitors … We try not to go into the meet with the expectation to win, but that’s always a fun goal especially on our home track,” said Zabala.

The teams will host another invitational this weekend, followed by the NESCAC championships on April 29.

“We have a lot of home meets coming up. Last week was a great way to set precedent for how we want to perform, especially at home,” said Thomas. “I think that if the guys can perform to the best of their abilities we’re going to be super successful at these meets.”

Thomas and Zabala emphasized how there are not usually many meets at home and that they hope to use this advantage to its fullest.

“Throughout my four years here we didn’t have too many home meets, so it was really awesome to be able to compete at home, especially now since they’re redoing [Whittier] field,” said Thomas.

“The NESCAC championship is pretty big. We host every, I think, 11 years, so we’re really excited. Usually we have to travel really far,” added Zabala. “Everyone should come to all of our meets, because they’re home. It’s like a two minute walk, really cool study break. You know, noon, Saturday 1 p.m. It’s warm, walk to the track meet.”

The Polar Bears will host the Bowdoin Invitational II tomorrow at 11 a.m.