The men's track and field team entered the Valentine's Day Invitational facing unfamiliar opponents. With the presence of Division I, II, and III schools and even post-collegiate runners, last Saturday's meet at Boston University gave the Polar Bears the highest level of competition they have faced this season.
Although the meet did not record any scores or rank teams according to their results, Bowdoin made quite an impression, with several athletes achieving personal bests.
"The team had a great day at BU. There were a lot of schools with a lot of talent and the Bowdoin men showed our fellow New England D-III competition that we mean business this year," said Ike Irby '09.
Senior co-captain Damon Hall-Jones set a personal best in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.46, barely missing the school record of 22.35 set by Brian Laurits '04. By running a 1:57.20, first year Brett Stein achieved a personal record in the 800-meter run.
The Polar Bears were especially impressive in the mile. Thompson Ogilvie '10 and Sam Frizell '12 bested their personal records with times of 4:15.60 and 4:25.97, respectively, and Spencer Nietmann '11 ran a season's best at 4:24.97.
Chris Martin '12 cleared 1.93 meters in the high jump to lead all Bowdoin performances in the field. Commenting on the impact that the high jumper has had, head coach Peter Slovenski said Martin "gives us a lot of strength in the front of the lineup. He has been both consistent and explosive in the big meets."
After gaining a major boost of confidence from the success of this meet, the Polar Bears are anxiously anticipating this weekend's New England D-III championship meet.
"The team looks really good going into the D-III's with all of our athletes getting ready to peak—we have not yet run our fastest," said Irby. "This week we will train faster and lighter to get ready to demolish our competition next weekend."
After finishing ninth in New England last season, Bowdoin is determined to finish among the top five this year.
"I think we're all very excited about the meet this weekend because we know we can be one of the top five teams in New England, maybe even in the top three if everyone competes like they have been all season," said co-captain Mike Krohn '09.
"Combined with our very strong jumpers, mid-distance and distance runners, I think the guys have been realizing that we can have an extremely impressive showing on Saturday, and are hoping to establish Bowdoin as a premier track school." Krohn added.
The Polar Bears will compete at the New England Division III Championships this Friday and Saturday at MIT.