Just a few minutes after the men's race had ended, and just 15 minutes before the start of the women's, a rain shower fell on Mt. Greylock High School?the site of Williams home course.
The shower was brief, but it was just enough to soak an already wet course, giving the runners in the 2008 NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships this past Saturday an arduous run, full of soggy, rolling terrain, and a painfully steep hill with 1,000 meters to go in the 6K race.
But the mud proved no match for the Polar Bears, who took seventh out of the 49 teams, a field that included nationally ranked teams such as Middlebury, Williams and MIT.
Before the Regional meet, Bowdoin had been seeded eighth in the regional poll, and ninth in the pre-season poll. Though the team came two spots short of an at-large bid to compete in the NCAA Division III Championships, the race was a testament to the hard work and breakthrough performances that improved their New England standing this season.
Annie Monjar '09 crossed the finish line first for the Bears, taking sixth place overall and earning an individual bid to the NCAA DIII Championship on November 22. Courtney Martin '09 finished second for Bowdoin?good for 36th place overall?in what head Coach Peter Slovenski called her "best race of the season."
"It was a good course for someone who is good in bad conditions, and Courtney is a tough runner on hills on muddy courses," Slovenski said.
Following Martin, the Bowdoin scorers were Christina Argueta '11 in 48th place, Grace Kerr '11 in 65th and Anna Ackerman '12 in 69th. Rounding off the line-up were Lindsey Schickner '09 in 77th and Holly Jacobson '11 in 83rd.
The race brought an end to a long cross-country season, one that co-captain Courtney Martin '09 called "really phenomenal."
"After graduating so many seniors last year, I think a lot of people thought we wouldn't be very competitive," she said. "But we had so many people come through with their hard work and dedication, and I think the fact that we improved from our pre-season ranking really shows that."
Slovenski agreed.
"The seniors improved so much this year," he said. "Last year, only one runner from the class of 2009 was in the top seven, and this year, we had Courtney, Lindsey and Annie in the top six. The seniors worked hard and provided outstanding leadership. They carried the team this year."
Though the Bears graduate three of their top seven, the return of Argueta, Kerr, Ackerman, Jacobson and other promising underclassmen bodes well for the 2009 season.