The Bowdoin Orient

Miles away from the Bacchanalian bliss of Ivies, it was business as usual for the men of the Bowdoin track team, which finished a disappointing eighth at the NESCAC Championships. The Bears scored a total of 40 points in the meet at Hamilton College to edge out ninth-place Amherst by one tally. Williams College was crowned champion with 195 points in a victory over second-place Tufts, a victory made so much sweeter by the fact that the two teams shared last year's title.

Pain is a funny thing in the sport of track. To the casual runner, it is a cramp in the leg, a stitch in the side, a gasp of the lungs. But any seasoned competitor knows that track is a sport of heart. Not of who's faster but of who can transcend the physical toil to embrace a level of emotional?even spiritual?desire that makes first place not only the best option but the only option, and second just a painful disappointment.

After a winter spent huddled around the 200-meter tracks of various field houses, the men's outdoor track team embraced spring in its full 400-meter glory, with a convincing second-place finish in its season opener at Middlebury. Bowdoin ceded victory to Springfield College, which finished with an 80-point lead, but showed great strength in beating Colby-Sawyer and Middlebury by a triple-digit margin.

After a series of smaller races at home, the men's track team took to the road as one of the 25 schools competing in the New England Championships last weekend. The Bears finished in ninth place in an impressive showing at the meet held at Tufts. Though running events dominate track meets, Bowdoin's greatest success came from the thrower's circle, where junior Luke Fairbanks hurled his third personal best.

Like a sleek chopper hovering high above stormy seas, the U.S. Coast Guard's Track Team commanded Saturday's meet at Farley Field House, scoring 236 points to Bowdoin's 140, Colby's 78, and Middlebury's 46. Despite the point differential, the race was extremely successful for the Bears, who earned their second consecutive top-two finish in as many weeks.

The best men's track teams in Maine slipped and sloshed their ways across the state to run and jump at last Saturday's Maine Indoor Championships, held at Farley Field House. After the previous week's lackluster showing, the Polar Bears took to the track with a vengeance, finishing in an impressive second place out of the four teams and falling only to first-place University of Southern Maine (USM). Although Bowdoin could not repeat last year's win, the team still left with a strong sense of triumph.

A cool wintry breeze blew through the Brandeis quad on a sleepy Saturday morning, but inside the field house the atmosphere was tempestuous.

The Bowdoin Men's Cross-Country Team capped its successful fall season with a 20th place finish out of 32 at the Division III National Championships on November 10.

Senior Nate Krah's 28th-place finish at the cross-country Division III National Championships gained him All-American honors on November 10.

Any runner knows that the sport of cross-country gives no guarantees. Four wins in the first five races and a third-place ranking in the NESCAC would not grant Bowdoin a free ride to the NCAA finals. But after a fifth-place showing at New England's and their season's success as whole, the Bears received an at-large bid to Nationals.

The Bowdoin Men's Cross Country Team toed the starting line of the Maine State Championships with a lot on the line last Saturday.

Among the shadows of the large iron bear cages, the only remnants of Franklin Park's abandoned zoo facility, the Bowdoin Men's Cross Country Team ran with ferocity to finish an impressive 11th out of 43 on the sport's biggest stage in the region: the New England Championships.

With less than a mile to go, out of the woods emerged the pack of Bowdoin, Bates, and Tufts runners, jockeying for position in a race that was still anyone's to win. With 1200 meters left, Thompson Ogilvie '10, competing at a course 15 minutes from his home, burst forth from the others and held on to finish first of nearly 50 athletes.

While the rest of us relaxed in the warm summer weather, the Bowdoin Men's Cross-Country Team trained through the season's heat with high expectations for the year ahead.