Courtesy of Brian Beard

Last week on October 3, the Bowdoin men’s and women’s cross country team posted several podium finishes at the Keene State Invitational. Racing against 27 other teams, the women’s team claimed second place with 54 points, 21 points behind No. 1 Williams College. The men’s team, with 91 points, took third place, ahead of No. 10 Tufts University. This invitational was only their second full-distance race of the season, so many runners are still adjusting to the distance. However, Seamus McDonough ’27 notes that this was the first race of the season where they were told to truly go for speed and see how well they could perform.

“Previous races have been more just feeling out the distance and getting in shape, but this one, me and my training partner were able to … attack the lead in the front,” McDonough said.

Halfway through his 8k race, McDonough tripped on a root and fell, but he was glad to continue his race and recover well to finish third overall (24:59.0) in a field of 267 runners. Similarly, placing second overall (22:01.9) in the 6k in a field of 244 competitors, Gwen Purnell ’29 went into the race with a mindset focused on having fun and trusting in herself. At the beginning of the race, she kept her pace comfortable and stuck with her teammates. She notes a special moment she had with about 1k left in the race.

“I remember looking at my coach, and he looked at the clock and was surprised, and I was sort of surprised as well, in a good way,” Purnell said. “I just felt like I had a little bit left in the tank, and so I went all out, and that was a really fun experience because it’s one of those things where you don’t even really conceptualize that you are running as fast as you can.”

As the season progresses, first-years are becoming more integrated into the team and having a large impact. The team is composed mostly of first-years and sophomores, which McDonough says is nice, as the team thinks about its long-term goals. Matthew Servin ’27 is excited that a large group of first-year men on the team who, only a few months in, have already fit the team dynamic well.

“We’re already feeling really good support points-wise from some of the first-years, which is something that you can never really predict or count on. But it’s really nice when it does happen,” Servin said.

Overall, Head Coach Ben Raphelson was pleased with the team’s performance at Keene State.

“[Race results] lined up with what we’d been seeing in practice, which is kind of always what you hope for,” Raphelson said. “Solid placements, good improvements off of … what was really just their second real race of the year.”

Moving forward, he hopes to keep a steady progression of fitness and competition in the runners, both of which he says are headed in the right direction. While Keene State was good competition for the team, he also mentions that several teams had some of their best players at other races.

“Williams women, for example, are definitely the top team in the country. Their top runners were running in Minnesota. They’re good enough that the runners they had at Keene were really, really good,” Raphelson said. “Whatever our score difference was, five or ten points … the reality is, the gap is bigger than that.”

Although these competitors were not at Keene State, these top runners will be present at upcoming tournaments. On the women’s side, Purnell has a team goal that she hopes will pan out this year.

“[The] end goal is going to nationals as a team … Last year we did that, and that was incredible, and just to put it in perspective, we hadn’t done that in a really long time, so we’re hoping to do that again,” Purnell said.

On the men’s side, McDonough shares that they are particularly hopeful for the rest of the season because of a recent discovery this year: an apparent correlation between facial hair and speed.

“As a team, we’ve been doing a great job sporting some mustaches. So when we inevitably do really great for the rest of the season, we will know why,” McDonough said.

The Polar Bears will continue their season tomorrow, racing at the Connecticut College Invitational in Hartford, Conn.