The women's cross country team opened its season with a tough loss to Bates last Saturday, but as the State Meet and NESCAC Championships approach, the Polar Bears may prove that their peak is at a new and higher level this season.
The Bears look to hold onto the momentum they gained last weekend as they approach the Connecticut College Invitational this weekend. The runners will face a 6K in Harkness Memorial State Park where the women will face off against 16 other teams, including two nationally ranked teams. The race will be the Bears' first chance to measure themselves against some of their toughest competition this season.
It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood last Saturday as the Bowdoin women's cross-country team began its first meet of the season with a tough test at Pineland Farms.
With the fantastic weather came an optimistic outlook for the upcoming season, with an array of strong individual performances, despite the Polar Bears falling just short of the Bates Bobcats in the overall score.
Senior Lindsay Hodge submitted a time of 19:52, good enough to snag a second-place finish.
"Lindsay showed a lot of intelligence during the middle of the race, and a lot of guts in the last mile," Coach Peter Slovenski said. "Her improvement this season has been remarkable."
The rest of Bowdoin followed Hodge's example, grabbing three of the top-five finishing spots. First year Olivia MacKenzie took fourth, and junior Christina Argueta finished not far behind in fifth.
Junior Yasmine White also contributed to the Polar Bears' success, passing four Bates runners in the final mile.
"We were pleased with our times for the start of the season and our top five runners created a solid pack," said junior Holly Jacobson.
A sixth-place finish in last year's NESCAC championship meet has the Bears' sights set high for this season. However, the team had its doubts entering Saturday's meet after graduating an All-American and three other seniors last year. But, the Bears now look to build strong first year and sophomore classes to recover their losses.
"Freshmen Olivia MacKenzie and Molly Porcher will be key players this season and showed Saturday that they can run with the front pack of our team," said Argueta. "Freshmen and returners alike have stepped up to fill the void left by our departing seniors."