The women's indoor track team earned a remarkable come-from-behind victory at the Maine State Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships at Farley Field House last Friday night. It was their second consecutive Maine State Championship.
Bowdoin was led by several impressive performances early in the meet.
Christina Argueta '11 led off the night by placing second in the 5000-meter run.
Emily Barr '12 also won the 55-meter dash, while Michelle Kaufman '12 won the 55-meter hurdles. In addition, Elsa Millett '12 claimed victory in the 400-meter dash.
However, with only five events to go, the Polar Bears trailed Bates and Colby by 18 points; it took several strong performances to bridge the gap.
First was the 200-meter dash, where Millett and Barr achieved first and second place respectively, scoring 18 points and effectively neutralizing the gap between Bowdoin and the other teams. At that point in the meet, the Polar Bears were only behind by three points.
Then, in the 3000-meter run, Bowdoin outscored Colby and Bates with a strong second- and fourth-place finish, by Anna Ackerman '12 and Olivia MacKenzie '13, respectively.
The two scorers gave the Polar Bears their first lead of the evening, a three-point advantage with only the long jump and the relays still to be scored.
In the final field event of the evening, Laura Peterson '12 claimed an impressive victory in the long jump, which qualified her for nationals and sealed a second-straight title for the Polar Bears.
"We're lucky that when the meet was coming down to the finish we had Laura in the long jump," said Head Coach Peter Slovenski. "She jumped a national qualifying distance, and was less than an inch away from the school record."
When the dust had settled, Bowdoin emerged with a 17-point victory, a solid margin for a team who had not led the meet until the very end.
"For a while, we were in a really tight race with Colby and Bates," said Riker, "and our 3K runners, long jumpers and 200-meter runners posted some big points that gave us a lead that we didn't relinquish for the rest of the night. Those were huge events for us."
Millett added, "It took every possible point, every individual's extra effort for us to win."
Slovenski complimented the excellent leadership of the captains, as well as the outstanding team effort that led the Polar Bears to victory.
"It was a great team effort. We scored in all except two events, and had great spirit throughout the field house. [Captains] Dana Riker and Sarah Lord have been terrific leaders, and they got the team well prepared to win a highly competitive meet."
"The whole team really stepped it up last Friday," Riker said. "Everyone had great performances and picked up little points in a lot of places."
The Polar Bears now head into the championship stage of their season, where they expect to face strong competition.
This weekend, the focus will be on individual performances, as athletes compete at the Valentine's Day Meet at Boston University on Friday and Saturday night.
Millett believes that such performances can continue into the following meets.
"I'm not gonna lie," she said. "We're pretty good at what we do."