The men's track team claimed second place at the Maine State Meet held last Saturday at Farley Field House. The Polar Bears ended the evening with two exciting 1-2 finishes in the 5000-meter race and the mile.
The favorite of the night was Bates College. The Bobcats won with 196 points while Bowdoin finished strongly with 143 points. The University of Southern Maine, with 122 points, and Colby College, with 91 points, came in third and fourth, respectively.
Despite this upset, Bowdoin ran admirably. According to Colin Ogilvie '12, the outcome was better than the Polar Bears had anticipated.
"We got second," he said. "We ended up doing much better than expected against Bates."
For the first 1000 meters of the mile, Coby Horowitz '14 and Matt Hillard '12 ran behind the pack. In the final two laps, Bates gained a 10-meter distance from the other racers. However, with one lap to go, Horowitz and Hillard kicked it into gear and moved into second and third place. In the last 40 meters, Hillard moved into first place, and Horowitz closed the gap and finished second.
The top scorer of the night was Matt Gamache '13, who placed first in the 400-meter and second in the 200-meter. Gamache captured 18 points for the Polar Bears.
"Matt had a fantastic night," said head coach Peter Slovenski in an e-mail to the Orient. "He made a smart move in the 400, and had the best technique in the 200. He generated a lot of speed in both events."
In the 500-meter, Stan Berkow '11 and Sam Seekins '14 securely ran in the lead pack for the first 3000 meters. With 600 meters to go, the racers picked up and dashed toward the finish line. Sam Seekins gave an exemplary performance as he finished first with a time of 15:14.78. Berkow also ran well and took second.
In the 600-meter, Brett Stein '12 and George Foster of USM battled it out for first place, with Foster winning by three inches. Meanwhile, Sam Chick '13 moved from fourth to third and Andrew Gluesing '13 moved up from sixth place to fifth in the final ten meters.
According to Slovenski, Gluesing encapsulated the team's energy.
"Glue [Gluesing] brings a lot of desire and fire to the team," said Slovenski. "It was great to see him race so well in a championship meet."
Oglivie believes that the team will use this championship as fodder for future successes.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing to have a down year," said Oglivie. "We learn what we can do next year to improve, and what the next strategy is."