The best men's track teams in Maine slipped and sloshed their ways across the state to run and jump at last Saturday's Maine Indoor Championships, held at Farley Field House.
After the previous week's lackluster showing, the Polar Bears took to the track with a vengeance, finishing in an impressive second place out of the four teams and falling only to first-place University of Southern Maine (USM). Although Bowdoin could not repeat last year's win, the team still left with a strong sense of triumph.
"We had a lot of spirit in this meet," Head Coach Peter Slovenski said. "We prepared well, and we were pleased with what we accomplished."
Bowdoin picked up two victories in the meet. Tim Fuderich '10 won the long jump, leaping 6.56 meters. In the 55-meter hurdles, junior Michael Krohn raced to the team's second-place finish in 8.14 seconds.
Seeded fourth in the mile behind All-New England runners Curtis Wheeler and Chris Hopkins of USM and All-American Nate Krah '08 of Bowdoin, sophomore Thompson Ogilvie would need the race of his life to break into the top three. On Maine's greatest stage, Ogilvie did not disappoint.
Ogilvie passed Krah after six laps and caught up to Hopkins with 50 meters to go. As Hopkins drifted to his right to block off the blur of black and white that looked to overtake him, Ogilvie danced to his left and slid past him for a personal best time of 4:20.
"That was the smartest move I've seen on the track by any team in the past five years," Slovenski said of Thompson. "Thompson's tactics and intuitions for racing are exceptional. It was fun to watch him make such a bold and smart move."
Bowdoin gained many valuable points thanks in part to the large number of personal records set at the state meet. In addition to junior Luke Fairbanks' 14.74-meter shotput and sophomore Nate Bingham's 13.82 meter weight throw, all four of the triple jumpers broke their personal bests on Saturday. The jumpers, including senior Ben LeHay, sophomores Fuderich and Colin Hay, and first year Mihayl Petkov, shattered the predicted seed point total of three, winning 18 points for the Bears.
"Professor [of Art Clifton] Olds has done a wonderful job teaching the Bowdoin triple jumpers," Slovenski said. "We're very lucky to have such an incredible teacher working with the track program."
Junior Damon Hall-Jones treated the home crowd to one of the fastest flat-track 200-meter races in Bowdoin's history. The 200-meter dash is a deceptively long race in which only the strongest runners can stave off the flow of lactic acid that can weigh down tired legs. After a good start, Damon stayed with his competition for the first 120-meters and then, as the others started to tighten and decelerate, he exploded for the final 80 at a pace no one else could match. He finished in first place with a time of 22.98 seconds.
"That was a brilliant combination of hard work and a great race plan," Slovenski said of Hall-Jones's impressive showing. "Coach Duncan and Damon worked hard in practice on the final 80 meters of the race."
The Bears will remain in the Pine Tree State next weekend as they play host to Middlebury, Coast Guard, and Colby at Farley Field House.