Coming off of its biggest win of the season with a major upset at the Maine State Meet at Colby two weeks ago, the men's cross-country team felt confident that it could achieve similarly impressive results at the NESCAC Championship at Trinity last weekend.
However, the most difficult course of the season and the competition at Trinity proved to be a bit too much for the Polar Bears.
Although Bowdoin had two top-ten finishers, Bowdoin still finished fifth out of 11. Williams dominated the meet with a score of 40, well ahead of second place Amherst team, which scored 88. Bowdoin finished with 120.
Senior co-captains Thompson Ogilvie and Colman Hatton led the charge by placing eighth and ninth overall, finishing just seconds apart with times of 26:36 and 26:40. Matt Hillard '12, Sam Epstein '11 and Stan Berkow '11 rounded out Bowdoin's top runners by finishing 30th, 35th, and 38th, respectively.
"Thompson and Colman are running with a lot of poise and confidence," said Head Coach Peter Slovenski. "They've had a lot of success at the championship level, so they understand what it takes to get ready and find a good rhythm for a fast race."
Although its top runners finished near the front of the pack, the team still had hoped for better results as a whole.
"The team really battled through some tough conditions," said Hatton. "Whickam Park is the hilliest course we run all year. In addition to it being really tough, the conditions were muddy and slow. Everyone showed a lot of grit battling through mud, sweat and blood. Saturday wasn't a true reflection of this team's talent and hard work. We had some great results individually, but the team can do a lot better as a whole."
Nevertheless, the whole team felt it gained some valuable insight from Sunday's difficult meet.
"One thing we took from the race was that we need to be more prepared for the mightier courses," said Ogilvie. "It also showed us who the really competitive teams in the region are and what strategy we need to use to be successful against them."
"As a team we didn't handle the fast start and the slow terrain very well," Slovenski said. "We'll have to prepare better and have more desire if we want to finish in the top-five at the Regional next week."
"We've done all the hard work now," said Hatton. "The last few weeks are about preparing mentally. We're going into D-III's mentally sharp and ready to run fast and tough."
Next week, the Polar Bears will have a chance for redemption when they compete at the New England Division III Championship on November 14, held in Cumberland, Maine.
"NESCAC is one of the fastest conferences around. At D-III's you throw in a handful of other great teams and individuals and you get one of the best regions in the country," said Hatton. "As a team we've always thought we could be top-five. Obviously we have to run better than last weekend, but we're ready to bring the fire."