Caroline Apathy ’21, a sophomore from Devon, PA on Bates’ swim and dive team, has been on campus for a little over a year and a half and has already seen the Division III NCAA stage and squashed program records. During her first season as a Bates swimmer, she earned five All-America honors at the 2018 NCAA Championships where she also broke the 200-yard medley relay record with a time of 1:43.86.
Author: Sarah Rothmann
Last year, the Maine State title was snagged from the Men’s Track and Field team; they fell to Bowdoin by 43 points at their home track in Merrill Gymnasium. Flash forward one year and the tables have turned. On Saturday Feb. 2, in Gorham, Maine at the University of Southern Maine, the men came back superior, defeating Bowdoin by 41 points and securing the status of reigning state champions. Colby and the University of Southern Maine trailed in second and third respectively.
Men’s hockey overcomes adversity and looks to end 2019 with triumph
The men’s hockey team has seen two critical road bumps at the start of the 2018-19 season. One, Underhill Arena, the team’s home rink and site for tremendous school attendance and support has been under construction with a broken freezer since the beginning of the fall semester. Two, Michael O’Brien, the men’s head coach during the 2017-18 season, who brought tremendous enthusiasm and spirit to the organization, is no longer with the team. The team is now coached by Josh Choiniere with assistant coach Aaron Rand. Both have already added noticeable energy to the team. However, this is still a notable change to the team’s dynamic from last year.
Most Bobcats finished their travel plans as they transitioned back into another semester at Bates. The Nordic and Alpine Ski teams, however, could not get too comfortable in Maine. Both teams drove six hours to Lake Placid, New York, for their first Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association Carnival race of the year, the St. Lawrence Carnival. The carnival spanned two days, Jan. 12-13, with Bates’s Nordic and Alpine Ski teams combining to score 331 carnival points, finishing 9th out of 17 participating teams. Nordic competed at Mt. Van Hoevenburg, while Alpine raced on Whiteface Mountain.
The men’s cross country team started their Thanksgiving break with a short, but exciting, trip to Winneconne, Wis. for the Division III NCAA Championships. The 8-kilometer race was held on Nov. 17 at the Lake Breeze Golf Club and comprised a field of 280 nationally qualified collegiate runners. This trip marked the men’s cross-country team’s first presence at the NCAA Championships since 2013, the sixth experience overall, and the first experience traveling with the women’s team since 2012.
The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is notoriously one of the most competitive Division III conferences in the country. Several schools such as Amherst, Williams, and Tufts are often nationally ranked. Therefore, when Bates’ cross country team finished fourth out of 11 schools at the Championship meet at Franklin Park in Boston on Oct. 27, it should be recognized as a tremendous accomplishment.
Last year marked Head Football Coach Mark Harriman’s 20th and final season. The Bobcats capped off Harriman’s final season with a record of 2-7. Their only two wins were against Bowdoin and Colby, granting them the state of Maine CBB title.