For the second year in a row, the Bowdoin Men's Indoor Track Team entered the Maine State Meet as underdogs, and for the second year in a row, the Polar Bears emerged victorious. The team's confidence was not unfounded as the Bears defeated Bates, the University of Southern Maine, and Colby.
Historically, Bowdoin has been weak in several sprinting events. That, however, was not the case on Saturday. In the 55m dash, the Polar Bears scored three of the six scoring places, including junior Lamont White's second place (6.68s), sophomore Damon Hall-Jones's fourth (6.71s), and first-year Zach Tretter's fifth. Hall-Jones returned in the 200m, placing fourth (23.56s), where he was joined by senior Joe Adu, who took third (23.54s). Adu was by no means done for the day, as he turned around and reclaimed his title as state champion in the 55m hurdles (7.96s). A sophomore duo of Michael Krohn and Ike Irby followed Adu, placing fourth and sixth in the hurdles, respectively (8.40s, 8.48s).
In middle distance action, Bowdoin grabbed four out of six places in the 400m. A trio of juniors, Brendan Egan, Steve Bartus, and Brian Lockhart, placed second, fifth, and sixth (51.64s, 54.12s, and 54.87s). Sophomore Robby Halliday joined in with a remarkable second lap, taking fourth (53.64s). In the 600m, junior Eric Lee took sixth (1:26.96). The 800m was one of the more exciting events of the day. After three laps, a tangle of three runners resulted in sophomore Jay McCormick's fall, effectively taking him out of the race. However, Alden Gassert came from behind, taking third (2:02.46), while eking out a Bates runner by only three one-hundredths of a second.
The 1000m had a remarkably close finish, where senior Owen McKenna and first-year Thompson Ogilvie finished together at second and third (2:37, 2:37), followed a second later by junior Tim Katlic in sixth. Earlier on, Ogilvie and McKenna teamed up for a one-two punch in the mile (4:21, 4:21), wasting the competition by over 30 yards.
"Those two were an awesome duo," said Lee.
The Polar Bears also overachieved in the field events.
"Luke Fairbanks and Ben Wharton were seeded second and fifth in the shot put, but they gave the team a big lift by finishing second and third," Head Coach Peter Slovenski said.
Luke Fairbanks also finished fifth in the weight throw (13.34m, followed by '09 Tony Thrower (11.78m).
In the high jump, a first-year trio gave Bowdoin a huge lift, including Ben Weimont (second, 1.81m), Cliff Webster (third, 1.81m), and Omar Aquino (sixth, 1.76m). The long jump went even better for the Polar Bears, as Tim Fuderich '10 and Adu took first and second (6.50m, 6.47m) and first-year Colin Hay placed fifth (6.11m).
"The long jump was our highest scoring event of the night. I was very impressed with Tim Fuderich's preparation for the meet and then his poise in the competition," said Slovenski.
Finishing second in the long jump gave Adu high-scorer honors for the meet.
"I was impressed by Joe's leadership and clutch performances," Slovesnki said. "He was the MVP of the state meet."
In the pole vault, senior Robey Clark took third (3.74m). Hay hit the runway, too, taking third in the triple jump (12.56m).
In the 5k, three juniors placed, led by Nate Krah in second (15.29). Patrick Pierce, in his second race back from a nearly two-year-long nagging Achilles injury finished fifth (16.03), while Ken Akiha took sixth (16:07).
Bowdoin took third in both the 4x400m and 4x800m relays, beating Bates by 18.5 points. When McCormick crossed the finish line, first-year Alex Carpenter summed up the meet: "If you're not first, you're last."
Qualifying individuals will continue their season at Boston University this weekend.