Rich McNeil '10 became the latest Bobcat to claim the Peter Goodrich Award at the Maine indoor championships. (File photo by Tom Leonard '78)

GORHAM, Maine -- Bates senior Rich McNeil claimed the Peter Goodrich Award for outstanding field athlete as the Bobcats placed third out of four teams Saturday night at the State of Maine Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Bates finished with 144.50 team points, behind Southern Maine (174.50) and Bowdoin (169.50) and ahead of Colby (28.50).

McNeil (Lawrence, Mass.) won both the shot put (15.62 meters) and the weight throw (18.29) with personal records in both events, leading a strong contingent of Bates throwers. McNeil moved to No. 7 on Bates' all-time performance list in the weight and improved his NCAA provisional qualification status in both events. Meanwhile, first-year David Pless (Atlanta, Ga.) was second in the shot put (14.13), while junior Chris Murtagh (Rowley, Mass.) and senior Mark Liu (Lexington, Mass.) were second and third, respectively, in the weight throw at 16.61 and 16.17.

Other top performances by the Bobcats included:

First-year James LePage (Cumberland, Maine) took first place in the 800 at 1:56.2 in a thrilling race.
Sophomore Mike Jiang (Madison, Conn.) won the 55-meter dash in 6.7 seconds.
First-year Anthony Haeuser (South Portland, Maine) finished first in the 55-yard hurdles in 7.9 seconds.
Junior Ryan Quinn (Watertown, Mass.) was second in both the 55 (6.7) and the 200 (23.0), and also placed fourth in the long jump (6.26).

Bates next competes at the Valentine Classic at Boston University on Friday, Feb. 12, then at the MIT Invitational the following day.

MEET RESULTS