After a long bus ride down to Springfield, Massachusetts, the women's track team won the Springfield Invitational on Saturday, beating a strong field which included Springfield College, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and the Coast Guard Academy.
The high-scoring event of the meet for the women was the 3000-meter run, in which Bowdoin women finished an impressive 1-2-3-4. Olivia MacKenzie '13 claimed victory, followed by Anna Ackerman '12, Christina Argueta '11 and Molly Porcher '13. In an impressive display of Bowdoin's strength in distance running, all four Bowdoin runners beat the fifth place runner by over 30 seconds.
Bowdoin's talented first year athletes had a strong showing at the competitive invitational meet. Michelle Kaufman '13 won the 55-meter hurdles, edging out a rival hurdler by four thousandths of a second in a dramatic photo finish. Coach Peter Slovenski noted that this race was the closest race involving a Bowdoin runner in the last five years.
Liza LePage '13 won her first college track race. Despite being placed in a slow heat, she clocked three minutes and 17 seconds in the 1000-meter run, faster than any runner in the faster heats.
In addition, Alee Wade '13 placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.51 seconds.
Elsewhere, sophomore Laura Peterson won the 400-meter dash, Molly Duffy '11 won the 800-meter run, and Bowdoin posted impressive victories in both the 4 x 400-meter and the 4 x 0800-meter relays. Slovenski pointed to senior leadership as a key to success.
"We have great leadership by our seniors," said Slovenski. "Dana, Sarah, Lindsay, Helen and the other seniors have been training hard and competing at a high level."
This weekend, the Polar Bears compete at home against strong competition from local rival Colby, and regional rivals MIT and Tufts.
"We hope to have good momentum going into this Saturday," said senior captain Dana Riker. "Colby, MIT and Tufts are among the top of the competition we will face in New England."
The following weekend will see Bowdoin compete in the Maine State Meet, where they hope to challenge for the Maine State title.
Bowdoin will host and compete in the Bowdoin Invitational on Saturday, January 30. The meet begins at 12:30 p.m. at Farley Field House.