Bates ski teams place 12th for best NCAA showing since 1998
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Kaitlyn McElroy ’07 |
Seth Hubbard ’06 |
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Whitney Fahy ’08 |
Sylvan Ellefson ’09 |
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Megan Papineau ’09 |
Sean McKenna ’06 |
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Liz Thompson ’09 |
Leo Menard ’08 |
Click here for all of the results from the NCAA Championships.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The Bates College ski teams came in 12th place overall at the conclusion of the NCAA Championships Saturday, the Bobcats’ best team finish at NCAAs since 1998.
With 189 points over the four days of the championship, Bates edged Montana State (185) for 12th place and finished ahead of schools such as Northern Michigan, Williams and Colby. Bates came in second only to Middlebury among traditionally Division III schools.
The host University of Colorado, placed first for the Buffaloes’ 17th NCAA championship.
The NCAAs concluded with the women’s Classic 15K and men’s Classic 20K cross-country races. Bates junior Kaitlyn McElroy (Bethel, Maine) finished in 34th place out of 39 women with a time of 52:48.4, while on the men’s side, senior Seth Hubbard (Farmington, Maine) finished 24th in 59:18.6 and first-year Sylvan Ellefson (Vail, Colo.) was 29th (59:53.9).
Friday’s slalom event was a bit of a disappointment for the three Bates women at NCAAs — each one of them had problems in her first run and had to hike. Still, first-year Megan Papineau (Keene, N.Y.; 25th place), sophomore Whitney Fahy (Carrabassett Valley, Maine; 32nd) and first-year Liz Thompson (Rangeley, Maine; 33rd) combined for 30 important points for the Bobcats.
In the men’s slalom, senior Sean McKenna (Manchester, N.H.) came in 31st, and sophomore Leo Menard (Biddeford, Maine) was 33rd, combining for 16 points in the event.
In Thursday’s cross-country races, Ellefson came in 22nd overall out of 39 competitors in the men’s 10K Freestyle race, with a time of 30:35.8. Hubbard was 37th, in 32:57.7. Denver’s John Stene finished first in 27:57.7.
In the women’s 5K, McElroy placed 36th out of 38 racers, with a time of 19:35.1. Colorado’s Jana Rehemaa came in first, in 16:29.6.
In Wednesday’s giant slalom, Papineau, Fahy and Thompson had Bates in sixth place overall in the early going — according to Bates alpine coach Rogan Connell, that’s the best women’s alpine finish at nationals that Bates has ever had.
Papineau placed 17th out of 35 skiers, in a two-run combined time of 2:25.54. Fahy was 22nd in 2:27.34, and Thompson was 24th in 2:28.63.
Bates’ men’s alpine contingent scored 28 points in the giant slalom, good for ninth overall. Menard was 20th out of 35 competitors, with a two-run time of 2:19.07, while McKenna came in 32nd in 3:50.63.
With eight skiers in Colorado, Bates had its largest-ever contingent at nationals.