Dunlap leads Bates men to 10th at New Englands
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Matt Dunlap ’08 |
Doug Brecher ’10 |
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Harrison Little ’08 |
Andrew Percy ’08 |
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Alex Hegevall-Clarke ’11 |
Griffin Stabler ’10 |
WATERFORD, Conn. — The Bates College men’s cross country team placed 10th out of 47 scoring teams Saturday at the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships, moving up two places from the Bobcats’ place a year ago as all seven Bobcat runners ran personal-record times on an 8-kilometer course.
With 262 points, Bates was a mere two points shy of ninth-place Brandeis for ninth place, and five points ahead of the host and 11th-place Camels. Bates beat out two NESCAC teams, Connecticut College and Middlebury, that finished ahead of the Bobcats at NESCACs two weeks ago. It was also Bates’ highest finish at New Englands since 2004, when they were fourth en route to a team berth in the NCAA Championships.
“We’re really pleased with how everybody ran today,” said head coach Al Fereshetian, who noted that the Bobcats haven’t been ranked in the top 10 in New England all season until today. “The last couple of weeks have been an outstanding finish to the season. Everybody peaked at just the right time.”
Senior co-captain Matt Dunlap (Farmington, Maine) finished 15th overall out of 330 runners overall to lead the Bobcats, 10 places better than his 25th-place finish a year ago. Dunlap covered the 8-kilometer course at Harkness State Park in 25:13.1.
Sophomore Doug Brecher (Waban, Mass.) followed in 35th overall with a time of 25:36.2, followed by senior Harrison Little (Hanover, N.H.) in 46th at 25:46.2, senior Andrew Percy (Woodbridge, Conn.) in 76th at 26:14.1 and first-year Alex Hegevall-Clarke in 90th at 26:27.4.
Also running for Bates were sophomore Griffin Stabler (Keene, N.H.) in 103rd at 26:39.3 and junior Dillon Tung (South Pasadena, Calif.) in 118th at 26:55.0.
Brecher took the 35th and final All-New England honors, joining Dunlap. Dunlap has a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships next week, if the top five teams at New Englands all qualify for nationals. Amherst and Williams have automatic bids as the top two teams, while teams three through five — Tufts, Trinity and Bowdoin — all have shots for at-large bids.