Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last Saturday, Bowdoin hosted the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) Tri-Meet, which saw both individual and team success for the men’s and women’s teams. The men finished in second place with 40 points, behind Colby with 18 points and ahead of Bates with 70 points. The women won by a comfortable margin, scoring 21 points while Colby had 45 points and Bates had 62 points. The CBB meet course was an abbreviated distance in comparison to the typical meet length, with the men running a 6k instead of an 8k and the women running a 4.5k instead of a 6k.

Both teams arrived on campus two weeks early for an intensive preseason in order to prepare for race day. Kaylee Hale ’28 acknowledged how beneficial having time to train hard prior to the start of classes was for the team.

“Preseason was great for building the energy. There’s this awesome excitement and energy … that makes preseason an awesome, magical time,” Hale said. “We were all doing it for each other, which sounds very cliché, but I think it came to fruition this [past] weekend, which was really awesome.”

At the meet, Angelina Hickey ’28 led the way for the women, finishing second overall with a time of 15:59.8. Laura White ’29 and Cam Meyer ’28 were right behind Hickey, finishing in 16:00.0 and 16:01.4 respectively. A few moments later, Hale and Tori Bacall ’26 crossed the finish line too, securing the Polar Bears five of the top seven finishing places after a very successful pack-running-race.

“I was very lucky to have three of my awesome teammates right in front of me. It was just kind of a stream of white, which was super exciting,” Hale said.

Captain Lex Davis ’26 echoed the same sentiments.

“I think we have a lot of people who prepared really well for this season,” Davis said. “The plan for this race was to pack up and run together so that when it gets hard, you have something to race for. It was awesome to see so many [Polar] Bears out there and just know that we have so much more to give, and this is just the beginning.”

Courtesy of Brian Beard

In the men’s race, captain Seamus McDonough ’27 came in second with a time of 18:49.2. Will Downs ’28 and Eliot Fountaine ’29 were the next Polar Bears to finish in 19:03.0 and 19:07.4, respectively. Ryan Boulanger ’29 and Ashton Dunlap ’26 rounded out the top five finishers for Bowdoin, coming in 12th and 14th place overall, respectively.

Head Coach Ben Raphelson had lots of praise for McDonough’s mindset and goals going into the first race of the season.

“[McDonough] in particular, I think, shifted his strategy a little bit to prioritize running with the team in the early stages of the race,” Raphelson said. “And I think that was part of what gave the first years a lot of confidence as well.”

After studying abroad in the spring semester, Dunlap was excited to get back to racing, especially in a home meet, but noted how the meet reminded him how difficult running any race distance is.

“It was definitely just another reminder of how hard cross country is, even with an under distance race,” Dunlap said. “I think it’s easy to be surprised by just how hard you have to push yourself, and I definitely felt that on Saturday. And even if it was supposed to be a lighter effort, it’s still pushing your body pretty much to the limit by the end of the race.”

Dunlap mentioned how many unique variables can impact any given cross country race.

“All you can really do is do the best on a given day, despite what’s going on around you, who’s racing around you, what teams are racing around you, who’s racing on those teams and how good of a day they’re having,” Dunlap said.

While not setting result-based goals, Raphelson is optimistic on what both the men’s and women’s teams will achieve this season.

“It’s still early with this group and the reality is, we just don’t know how good we can be yet,” Raphelson said. “The task is each day to try and get a bit better and see what that adds up to. But we’re showing that we’re on a good trajectory right now, for sure.”

Both teams’ next race is the Maine State Meet, hosted by Bowdoin, on Saturday, September 20. The men will race at 10 a.m., followed by the women at 11 a.m.