Men’s track and field takes second place at NESCACs
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Members of the Bates men’s outdoor track and field team pose with their conference runner-up plaque after the meet at Connecticut College. (Photo by Tom Esponnette ’10) |
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McNeil |
Murtagh |
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Bousquet |
Bennett |
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Quinn |
Esponnette |
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Corcoran |
Calandra |
NEW LONDON, Conn. — The Bates College men’s track and field team edged Tufts University by half a point to take second place at the NESCAC Track & Field Championships Saturday at Connecticut College.
Bates scored 116.5 points, behind only Williams (158.5) and ahead of Tufts (116), with Bowdoin (108) and Amherst (69) rounding out the top five teams. It’s the Bobcats’ highest finish since coming in second in 2004.
“It was a great day today. Lots of exciting things happened,” said head coach Al Fereshetian.
With every point counting big for Bates, the final two events helped seal second place. Sophomore Monthe Kofos (Marlborough, Mass.) made the finals in the triple jump and finished eighth (42-04.25), for one point, and the distance medley relay team of first-year Peter Corcoran (Stillwater, Minn.), sophomore Ryan Quinn (Watertown, Mass.), first-year Troy Calandra (San Francisco) and sophomore Tom Esponnette (Auburn, Maine) placed second in a time of 10:15.89, the second fastest in Bates history.
The Bobcats received three championship performances in throwing events. Junior Rich McNeil (Lawrence, Mass.) won both the discus throw (141-05) and the hammer throw (170-11), and sophomore Chris Murtagh (Rowley, Mass.) won the javelin throw for the second consecutive year, with a top throw of 175-07. McNeil, who also took first in the discus last year, also came in second place in the shot put at 50-02.00. Murtagh, was also eighth in both the discus (130-11) and the hammer (144-00)
Quinn also finished fourth in both the 200 (22.65) and the 400 (49.90), scoring 10 points combined in those events.
Senior Jerome Bennett (Chicago, Ill.) also scored big points for Bates, finishing second in the pole vault (14-08.75) and fourth in the high jump (6-01.25).
The multi-talented first-year Candido Bousquet (Colombo, Sri Lanka) also scored big, placing third in the long jump (22-01.75), third in the discus (139-06) and eighth in the shot put (42-00.50).
Also scoring valuable points for the Bobcats were junior Conor Welch (Newburyport, Mass.), who was fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:43.21); Esponnette, who was fifth in the 1,500 (3:59.25); senior Mark Liu (Lexington, Mass.), who was fifth in the hammer (154-09); sophomore Brett Epler (Wellesley, Mass.), who was sixth in the 110-meter high hurdles (16.09); sophomore Devin Dilts (Roscoe, Ill.), who was sixth in the steeplechase (9:46.12); junior Doug Brecher (Waban, Mass.), who was seventh in the 10,000 (32:53.12); first-year Sam Goldstein (Memphis, Tenn.), who was seventh in the pole vault (13-09.00); sophomore Ryan Larsen (Hull, Mass.), who was seventh in the shot put (42-11.50); and first-year Duncan Briggs (Arrowsic, Maine), who was eighth in the javelin (164-00).
Bates’ 4×100 relay team of first-year Mike Jiang (Madison, Conn.), sophomore Pat Carroll (North Andover, Mass.), first-year Nick Marinakis (Reading, Mass.) and Quinn came in fourth in 43.44 seconds. The Bobcats’ 4×400 relay team of Epler, junior Steven Fukuda (East Hartford, Conn.), senior Mike Watson (Mansfield, Mass.) and Jiang placed eighth (3:35.60).
Bates next competes at the New England Division III Championships next weekend at Springfield College.