The men’s track and field team dominated in its first meet of the outdoor season this past weekend. Bowdoin finished with 317 points, 240 more than the second place finisher, UMaine-Farmington (77 points). Colby (76 points) placed third, Husson (68 points) finished fourth and St. Joseph’s (21 points) fifth.


“I think in general it was just a really strong race,” captain Nick Walker ’16 said. “Usually when you start outdoor track people usually don’t hit their personal records, but in general this was a really good meet all around.”


The win should come as little surprise, as the team posted many impressive results throughout its indoor season. The most notable include a second place finish out of 50 schools at the ECAC Meet and first place at the Maine State Meet.


“I’ve just been blown away by how hard everyone on the team has been working every single day,” Walker said.


Walker cited middle- and long-distance races as the team’s biggest improvement compared to past seasons.


“In terms of the state meet, last year and in past years it always seems like we narrowly lose to Bates,” he said. “This year we were finally able to edge them out and I think the thing that really changed was that the distance runners are consistently performing at a high level, which is in large part because of a really strong freshman class.”


The team won 14 events overall on Saturday. Latif Armiyaw ’18 won the 100 meters (11.76 seconds), Harrison Porter ’19 won the 400 meters (51.76 seconds), John Kennealy ’18 in the 800 meters (1:59.29) and Matt Jacobson in the 1500 (3:59.40). The relay team of Andrew Murowchick ’16, Jibrail Coy ’16, Porter and Armiyah took the 4x100 meter relay (44.20 seconds) and the relay team of Porter, Liam Nicoll ’18, Seamus Power ’16 and Jacob Ellis ’16 won the 4x400 meter relay (3:37.16).


Sprinting, jumping and throwing have been consistently strong over the past couple of years, and that has continued this year. Saturday was no exception, as Brian Greenberg ’18 took the long jump (6.59 meters) and triple jump (13.81 meters), Joseph Staudt ’19 won the high jump (1.80 meters) and 110 meter hurdles (15.42 seconds), John Pietro ’18 won the hammer (46.28 meters) and shot put (13.89 meters), and Thomas Rehnquist ’16 won the discus (39.20 meters).


 “Past years we’ve had certain individuals or teams or relays that were really strong, but we haven’t had a team that was this strong across the board in my entire time at Bowdoin,” Walker said.


According to Walker, another factor that differentiates this team from past seasons and has contributed to their elevated level of play has been the inclusiveness of the team.


“I’ve noticed in past years that event groups usually just hang out together,” Walker said. “There isn’t a lot of intermingling. This year I see people interacting across those boundaries a lot more. It just seems like a much more relaxed atmosphere, so that’s been maybe the nicest part of the track season for me so far and has maybe helped us get some of our good results.”


In the next three weeks, the team has two of its biggest meets: the outdoor Maine State Meet, which will take place on April 23 at Colby, and the NESCAC Championship meet, which will take place April 30 at Amherst.


“States is just kind of a personal pride thing for our team,” Walker said. “Bates, Colby and USM are usually our biggest competitors there and if we can win it just means a lot for our team and pride.”


Walker noted that the NESCAC Championship Meet is also important in rallying the team toward a common goal.


“Something about missing the Saturday of Ivies creates almost an extra commitment that people bring to that meet,” he said.


The team will look to continue its recent successes as they travel to Middlebury this weekend to compete in the Middlebury Invitational on Saturday, April 16 at 11 a.m.