The Voice of Bates College Since 1873

The Bates Student

The Voice of Bates College Since 1873

The Bates Student

The Voice of Bates College Since 1873

The Bates Student

Men’s Track and Field Divide and Conquer at USM and BU

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Sydney Beres ‘18 watches her Sam Reiss ‘18 advance the ball. JOHN NEUFELD/THE BATES STUDENT

On January 28, the men’s track and field team split up to tackle the University of Southern Maine (USM) Invitational, where Bates placed first out of four teams, and the University of Boston’s John Thomas Terrier Classic. Despite the separation, the team performed exceedingly well with strong performances on both fronts.

Eleven members from the men’s track team traveled to Boston last week to compete against some of the best athletes in the region at the prestigious Terrier Classic.

Last week’s Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) north field athlete of the week Adedire Fakorede ‘18 placed third out of 33 throwers in the weight throw, hitting a mark of 59-3.

Rob Flynn ‘18 competed in the 500m dash, placing eighth overall in a field of 33 athletes with a time of 1:05.00, narrowly missing Partick Griffin ‘17’s indoor record of 1:04.65.

In a standout performance, Zach Magin ‘18 ran a personal best time of 14:45 in the 5K, placing 17th out of 63 runners, shattering his previous best of 15:11 by 26 seconds.

“It was hard,” Magin says, “but being with fast competition made it a lot easier, so I could just cruise on autopilot.”

Also in the 5K, Justin Levine ‘20 ran his race in a personal best time of 15:13, placing 32nd. In the 3K, all four Bobcats ran within 15 seconds of each other, with Henry Colt ‘19 taking the cake in a time of 8:42. Following Colt were Stephen Rowe ‘18 in 8:48 and Matthew Morris ‘18 in 8:57. In a separate heat, Ben Tonelli ‘18 ran his race in 8:43.

Other performances from the meet include Jack Kiely’s ‘18 1:55 and Mark Fusco’s ‘18 2:00 finish in the 800m, Ryan Corley’s ‘19 23.03 in the 200m and the distance medley relay (Flynn, Corley, Fusco and Kiely) which ran 10:13 on Friday night after the women’s meet.

At the USM Invitational, Bates won with a runaway 247.5 points. Merrimack College followed in second with 161 points, and host USM came in third with 132.5 points. This is the second year in a row that Bates has won this meet despite missing key members of the team.

The Bobcats dominated the pole vault with Garrett Anderson ‘18 taking first, vaulting a height of 14-11 to match his indoor career best set during last week’s home invitational. This mark earned him a tie for fifth on Bates’ all-time indoor performance list. David Dick ‘18 and Brendan Donahue ‘20 placed second and third, vaulting 13-5.24 and 12-5.5 respectively.

Similarly, Bates swept the weight throw with all six Bates entrants throwing farther than the single opponent from Emmanuel College. Zack Campbell ‘21 won this event, throwing 49-7.

In both the 55m dash and hurdles, Bates runners came out on top. Milan Lemon ‘21 and Ryan Giunta ‘21 placed first and second, running times of 6.75 and 6.84 to win the 55m dash; Kawai Marin ‘18 took first in the 55m hurdles, running a personal best time of 8.08. Additionally, Christopher Barker ‘21 won the 1000m with a time of 2:46.

Other notable performances at this event which led the way for Bates’ victory include second place finishes by Ian Wax ‘19 in the 800m (2:07), James Jones ‘20 in the 3000m (9:30) and Beaufils Kimpole-Pene ‘20 in the High Jump (6-2). Among notable third place finishes were, Giunta in the 200m (24.02) , Frank Fusco ‘19 in the 400m (54.00), Volney Spalding ‘21 in the mile (4:39), Kimpole-Pene in the long jump (20-9.75), and Thomas Endean ‘18 in the shot put (41-11.26). All of these athletes helped Bates rack up points.

“[The season so far has been] really good, love the team atmosphere,” said team captain Dacota Griffin ‘18. “I think that we bring a lot of energy everywhere that we go, and that everyone’s really positive, helping out one another, or encouraging one another to keep on doing their best. I’ve really enjoyed, since we’ve had our fall training class, just watching everyone develop into their full potential, which is still yet to come.”

The men’s track and field team will be put to the test this Saturday in the Maine State Meet, hosted by Bates, as they fight to earn the state title for the fifth year in a row.

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