The cross country program had a banner day when it hosted the NCAA New England D-III Regional race last Saturday. The men's team placed third out of 49 teams, and earned a trip to the national championship. The women's team ran a solid race, placing eighth out of 51, but did not manage to qualify. Two female runners, however, will be moving on as individuals.
The men's team, demonstrating its confidence after finishing second at the NESCAC Championship two weeks ago, scored 160 points. Williams took first place with 88 points, Middlebury second with 89, and Bates was fourth with 161. Tufts was the last team in the region to qualify, with a score of 175.
Due to the fast finishes and close performances, the team was unsure about the status of its post-season and had to wait 20 minutes for the results. The Polar Bears then breathed a sigh of relief after realizing they had beaten Bates by one point, coming off a tie with the Bobcats for second place in NESCACs.
After shadowing defending regional champion Michael Schmidt of Middlebury, Coby Horowitz '14 finished second overall. This performance marks a great turnaround from last year when he was cut by a running spike during the race, lost one shoe in the process, and jogged home to finish in 69th place.
Captain Matt Hillard '12 and Sam Seekins '14 were the next Polar Bears to finish, placing 24th and 37th, respectively. James Boeding '14 and Colin Ogilvie '12 rounded out Bowdoin's top five, finishing 43rd and 54th, respectively.
Although the women did not qualify for nationals as a team, Olivia MacKenzie '13 and Madelena Rizzo '14 were among the top seven individuals from non-qualifying teams and therefore earned automatic entries to the national championship.
MacKenzie and Rizzo ran with the front pack from the starting gun, staying with the leaders for the majority of the 6K race to finish 10th and 16th, respectively.
Captain Anna Ackerman '12 flew past several runners during the final stretch to finish in 24th place. Chantal Croteau '12 and Molly Porcher '13 were Bowdoin's fourth and fifth scorers, placing 83rd and 105th respectively.
Captain Lindsey Horowitz '12 was pleased with the way the women's team performed.
It was "a really exciting day, with almost every runner making improvements on their place from last year's regional meet," she said. "I was personally really proud of the determination of the women's top three runners, who performed really well in comparison to their NESCAC counterparts."
Horowitz also singled out Rizzo's performance, noting her continuous improvement this season.
"I think Madelena surprised herself, but she has been improving all season and training smart, so we all knew she could do it," said Horowitz.
Ackerman agreed, and said that "Madelena and Olivia both ran very courageous races—it will be exciting to see what they can pull off in a national field."
She said she was also proud, to have beaten Colby.
"Each time we competed against Colby this year, we made small gains, and finally overtook the Mules by four points," said Ackerman. "With such a close score, we didn't realize this achievement until well after the race was finished."
Colby has been consistently ranked as one of the 25 best programs in the country, and Bowdoin's ranking will go up as a result of its impressive finish.
Hillard was happy with both races, and said the top three runners on both teams ran tremendously. He was also excited with the crowd that turned out for the regional race.
"It was a beautiful day for racing, and having so many Bowdoin fans really contributed to a great atmosphere," he said.