Men’s track and field captures fifth straight State of Maine title
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Joel Colony ’06 |
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Noah Gauthier ’08 |
WATERVILLE, Maine — Senior Joel Colony (Harrisville, N.H.) won the Alan Hillman Award as the most outstanding track athlete and sophomore Noah Gauthier (Amherst, N.H.) claimed the Frederick Tootell Award as the most outstanding field athlete, as the Bates College men’s track and field team won the State of Maine outdoor championship for the fifth consecutive year.
With 204 points, Bates edged Bowdoin by 4.5 points for first place. The Bobcats led the Polar Bears by a single point heading into the final event, the 4×400 relay, which Bates won in 3:21.96 with the quartet of junior Matt Capone (Auburn, Maine), first-year Michael Watson (Mansfield, Mass.), junior Sam Thomas (Richmond, Va.) and Colony. The relay team was without senior Adam Macbeth (Ellsworth, Maine), who had pulled a hamstring during the 4×100 relay earlier in the day and was forced to miss the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles. Macbeth’s injury also cost Bates any points in the 4×100.
Bates still scored 10 first-place finishes, including Macbeth in the long jump (22-2.5). Other winners included:
- Gauthier in the shot put (14.96 meters) and the discus throw, a personal best 44.49 meters, the fourth best discus throw in Bates history;
- Sophomore Andrew Percy (Woodbridge, Conn.) in the 3,000 steeplechase (10:05.45);
- Senior Dan Johnson (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) in the 1,500 meters (4:03.16);
- Sophomore Emmanuel Drabo (Burkina Faso) in the triple jump (13.10m);
- Junior Andrew Tibbetts (Dedham, Mass.) in the high jump (6-0). Tibbetts also scored valuable points for Bates in the pole vault, javelin, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles;
- Colony in the 100 meters (11.07) and the 200 (22.06), placing just ahead of Capone in both events;
- Thomas in the 400, with the sixth-best time (48.91) in school history.
Bates next competes at the NESCAC Championships at Bowdoin College next weekend.