Bates junior Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan (Topsham, Maine) became a three-time All-American by finishing fifth in the women’s hammer throw at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships last week at Marietta College.

Duncan also came up just short of claiming a second All-America award in these championships on Saturday in the shot put, making the finals but finishing in ninth place with a top heave of 13.10 meters (42-11.75). Duncan was seeded 15th in the event going in.

Duncan’s top hammer throw of 52.29 meters (171-6), qualified her for the nine-athlete final. It is her first outdoor All-America award, after twice achieving the feat at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the weight throw.

Duncan and senior teammate Izzy Alexander (Harvard, Mass.) represented the Bates women’s team at the meet. Alexander placed sixth in the 400-meter hurdles to finish her career with five All-America honors, the second highest total in team history.

Bates senior Izzy Alexander (Harvard, Mass.) broke the New England Division III Women’s Track and Field Championship meet record in the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday at Springfield College, winning the event in 1:01.78 and slicing 0.18 seconds off of the previous set by Springfield’s Beth Bowler in 1998. Alexander’s time also lowered her own Bates outdoor record in the event by 0.13 seconds. She was 1.82 seconds ahead of runner-up Alice Wisener of Middlebury.

Alexander’s effort highlighted the Bobcats day at the meet, in which the team finished ninth for the third year in a row. The Bobcats scored 40.5 points, well ahead of 10th-place Brandeis (25) among 26 point-scoring teams.

Also at the meet, Alexander teamed up with senior Jen Marino (Methuen, Mass.), sophomore Dana Lindauer (Needham, Mass.) and senior Tara Higgins (Jeffersonville, Vt.) and Alexander placed seventh in a time of 4:07.29.

Next up for the Bobcats is the all-divisions Open New England Championships at UMass-Amherst this weekend.

Noah Gauthier '08

After winning the NCAA Division III championship in the indoor weight throw last month, Bates senior captain Noah Gauthier (Amherst, N.H.) cemented his fourth trip to nationals on Saturday, by hitting the NCAA outdoor automatic qualifying mark in the hammer throw.

Gauthier launched a top hammer throw of 58.30 meters for first place. Gauthier also placed second in the shot put (14.63) and fifth in the discus (37.24), as the Bobcat men’s track and field team finished second out of four teams at the Colby Invitational on Saturday. He was named NESCAC Men’s Field Performer of the Week. (View a PDF of the weekly NESCAC Track and Field release.)

With 171 points, Bates was the runner-up to MIT (224) while topping the University of Southern Maine (156) and Colby (106).

Gauthier, the recently crowned NCAA Division III indoor weight throw champion, launched a top hammer throw of 58.30 meters for first place. Gauthier also placed second in the shot put (14.63) and fifth in the discus (37.24).

Vanteil Duncan, '10

Bates sophomore Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan had a big day Saturday at the Colby Invitational. The recently crowned All-America indoor weight thrower met provisional qualification for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and recorded lifetime bests in both the hammer throw and shot put.

Duncan (Topsham, Maine) threw the hammer 49.11 meters and surpassed her personal record in the shot put by about two feet, at 13.51 meters, taking first place in both events. Duncan also finished fourth in the discus throw (33.05) as Bates finished third in the team scoring with 124 points, while MIT scored 143 and Colby 139.

Duncan was named the NESCAC Women’s Field Performer of the Week for her efforts. (View a PDF of the weekly NESCAC Track and Field release.)

Kelly Godsey (Parker, Colo.) was a one-Bobcat show at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships, as her first-place finish in the hammer throw and second-place finishes in the shot put and discus tallied all 26 of Bates’ points, giving the Bobcat team eighth place at the meet, hosted by Wartburg College.

In hammer throw, Godsey was as dominant as she’s been all season, beating the rest of the competition by more than 10 feet. Her winning throw of 195-feet, 4-inches, set a Wartburg stadium record and a new NCAA Division III championship record.