 "Photo: OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA RELATIONS/COURTESY PHOTO")
On Mar. 5th and 6th, the men’s indoor track team competed in the ECAC Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships, finishing fifth out of 49 teams. The Bobcats’ finish marked a significant improvement from last year’s 29th place. Bates finished with 43 points, behind only Ithaca (52.25), the University of Southern Maine (48), The College of New Jersey (48) and Geneseo State (47.25). It was the Bobcats’ highest finish at ECACs since placing second in 2004.
Just 24 hours after claiming the title of ECAC Division III Champion in the shot put, Captain Rich McNeil ’10 placed second out of 28 competitors in the weight throw with a top heave of 59-08.25.
Tom Esponnette ’11 finished third out of 27 runners in the 1,000-meter with a time of 2:32.55, while Peter Corcoran ’12 was one place behind in 2:33.73.
The 4x800-meter relay team added five more points to the overall team score by finishing fourth in a time of 7:56.83, just 0.23 seconds behind third-place St. Lawrence University.
In the opening event of the meet, Jesse Chapman ’13 broke the school record in the indoor pentathlon by scoring 3,496 points – an improvement upon the provisional qualification for the NCAA Championships that he met one week earlier. John Miley ’08 was the previous record holder with 3,472 points. In addition to making Bates history, Chapman also finished second overall in the pentathlon, just 33 points shy of winner Jared Engelking of Tufts. He was also second among all competitors in the shot put (42-05.50) and tied for first in the high jump at 6-02.75.
Other notable performances included Ethan Waldman ’11, Andrew Wortham ’13, Captain Devin Dilts ’11, Sam Goldstein ’12 and the distance medley relay team.
Waldman made the shot put finals and finished ninth overall at 46-06.00. Wortham finished seventh in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:11.29, while Dilts placed tenth in 15:26.95. The distance medley relay team of Esponnette, Ryan Quinn ’11, Corcoran and Nick Barron ’13 placed ninth overall with a time of 10:19.28. Goldstein tied for 13th place in the pole vault, topping out at 14-04.00.
The ECAC Division III Championships mark the end of the season for most of the men’s indoor team; however, McNeil, Chapman and Goldstein all met NCAA provisional qualifying marks in their events and the trio must wait to find out if they are selected to compete in the NCAA Championships on Mar. 12-14 held at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.
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