The men's track and field team was hard at work at the NESCAC Championship last Saturday. After running away with the state title last weekend, the Polar Bears said that they had a feeling that there would be much tighter competition this time. They were right.
Bowdoin scored 108 points to place fourth, finishing only 8.5 points away from second place. Williams repeated as NESCAC champions by scoring 154.5 points, well ahead of second place Bates' 116.5, followed by Tufts and Bowdoin. Although they did not meet every goal that they had hoped for, the Polar Bears say they have a lot to be proud about from Saturday's meet.
"We were pretty happy with how we did," said senior tri-captain Luke Fairbanks. "We were aiming for a top-three finish, but we still performed really well and had a lot of great individual performances. We had as many first-place finishes as we did at states and more than doubled our point total from last year's NESCACs...I felt that the guys had a hell of a day."
Four Bowdoin athletes won individual conference championships, most notably, the versatile Damon Hall-Jones '09.
In addition to winning the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.09, Hall-Jones also placed third in the 200-meter dash and anchored the 4 x 100-meter relay team of Tim Fuderich '10, Kyle Hebert '10, and Zach Winters '11 that finished second place overall, earning additional All-Conference honors in both events.
Other individual champions from the meet included Thompson Ogilvie '10, who seized the 5K run by a commanding twelve seconds, posting a 15:10.54. In the field, Chris Martin '12 won the high jump with a height of 1.91 meters, while Fairbanks captured the shot put title with a throw of 15.52 meters, in addition to scoring in the discus throw and hammer throw.
"Luke Fairbanks had an amazing day," said Coach Peter Slovenski. "He was one of only a few athletes in NESCAC to score in three throwing events. And he is one of only six Bowdoin athletes who have ever thrown over 50-feet in the shot put."
The Polar Bears have continuously stressed the importance of the support they give each during their events at important meets.
"Everyone has just been feeding off the performances of each other for the entire season. This week, Damon's domination of the 100-meter dash and Luke's phenomenal throw in the shot put pumped me up for a strong performance in the 5000-meter," said Ogilvie.
After yet another grueling championship meet, the Polar Bears are again gearing up for what they know will be one more weekend of tough competition at the New England D-III Championship.
Though they are entering the final stages of the championship season, Bowdoin says that they do not expect to see anything different down the stretch and are looking for a top-five finish at the outdoor New England meet.