Though the men's indoor track team could not best powerhouse University of Southern Maine (USM), the Polar Bears had an outstanding performance on Saturday and proved that they are still among the best in Maine.
Coming into the meet, the Polar Bears were seeded to place third overall by a fairly large point margin.
However, after some exciting performances, the men scored 169.5 points, which could not topple USM with 174.5, but did beat out rivals Bates and Colby who managed to score 144.5 and 128.5 points respectively.
The team knew that in order to be competitive, each athlete had to step up to the level of their competition and pick up points wherever possible.
Upsets from sophomores Riker Wikoff and Alex Lucyk, who both moved from sixth place seeds to fourth place finishes in the 55-meters hurdles and pole vault respectively, were exactly the type of performances the team needed.
Chris Martin '12 placed second while high jumping through a foot injury and Brett Stein '12 added another second place in a close 800-meters with an impressive time of 1:56.3 seconds.
Sophomores Colin Ogilvie and Sam Frizell also added points, both with season best times in the 1000-meters.
It wasn't only sophomores scoring for Bowdoin. First year standout Sam Chick added 14 points of his own with an outstanding 600-meters time as well as a second place in the triple jump. The real stars of the meet, however, were the members of the senior class.
"We had great leadership by the seniors," said Coach Peter Slovenski. "The seniors won all six of our first places, and scored half our points. Tim Fuderich had an amazing night with two firsts and a fourth place. His improvement has given the team a big lift."
Captain Kyle Hebert '10 also had two first places in the 200-meters and 400-meters, both of which were exciting come-from-behind victories.
Nate Bingham '10 broke up a strong Bates throwing squad, placing fourth with a season-best weight throw. Captain Colin Hay '10 held down the jumps with two third place finishes in the long and triple jump.
Captain Thompson Ogilvie '10 added another first place with a well-paced mile, slowly moving from fifth to first place as the crowd went wild.
Finally, the distance duo of Colman Hatton '10 and Stan Berkow '10 took first and second respectively in the 5000-meters where they moved up the field and completely outkicked their competition for a strong win.
All of these inspiring performances helped the team improve its expected overall score by 14 points, making for a much closer outcome than expected.
Now, many team members will start looking ahead to their outdoor season, while the top athletes will head into the highly competitive championship meets.