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.

Liz Wanless won the women’s shot put at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a meet record throw to claim her second national shot put championship on Saturday afternoon at Millikin University.

Wanless ’04 (Belleville, Ill.) won by more than five feet with a toss of 52 feet one-half inch. Wanless was also the NCAA shot put champion at the indoor championship in March.

Kelly Godsey ’06 (Parker, Colo.) won her third All-America honor of the season with a third-place showing at 46-2.5. Godsey was second in the hammer throw on Thursday and fourth in the discus on Friday for the Bobcats. Jackie Luehmann of Gustavus Adolphus finished second with a mark of 46-5.25.

Bates finished tied with Williams for eighth in the team standings with 29 points. Wisconsin-Oshkosh won the team title with 57 points. Calvin was second with 54.3 and Wheaton third with 37.8.

Matt Ondra ’04 (New Tripolli, Pa.) led the Bobcat men, finishing in a three-way tie for fourth in the pole vault. Scott Cooper ’06 (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) joined Ondra as an All-America honoree, finishing seventh in the hammer throw. The men’s team scored six points to finish tied for 46th.

Bates’ Russell Street track hosted its first-ever New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC ) track and field championships April 27-28 and four Bobcat individuals and one relay team won conference titles. The Bates men finished in fourth place with 88 points, while the women were tenth with 30 points.

Junior Justin Easter of Jay, Maine, led the way for the men. Easter won the NESCAC title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the third year in a row, missing an NCAA automatic qualifying time by less than half a second with a time of 9:08.7. Easter also anchored the Bobcats’ winning distance medley relay, coming from behind to defeat the team from Bowdoin by nine-hundredths of a second. Also on the relay team were first-year runners Joel Anderson of New Brighton, Minn., Greg Whelan of Tacoma, Wash., and Andrius Staisunias of Panevezys, Lithuania. Senior Jaime Sawler of Stratham, N.H., also won a NESCAC title, staying undefeated this year in the hammer by successfully defending his conference title. Classmate Greg Hurley of Arlington, Mass., earned two all-conference honors by placing second in the hammer -improving his chances at making the NCAAs with a throw of 175-0 – and third in the javelin. Anderson captured a second All-NESCAC honor by taking third in the 5,000-meters. Junior Matt Ondra of New Tripoli, Pa., placed second in the pole vault for the second year in a row to earn a spot on the All-NESCAC team.

Twenty of the Bobcat women’s 30 points came from their two event champions. Junior Kelley Puglisi of Scotia, N.Y., came from behind in the final 100 meters to win the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:48.17, 0.34 seconds faster than the second-place finisher from Bowdoin. Puglisi entered the meet ranked fourth in the conference. Sophomore Liz Wanless of Belleville, Ill., improved her NCAA provisional mark and school record in the shot put by three-quarters of an inch with a toss of 42-11.5, winning the event by half an inch. Senior captain Anya Belanger of Milbridge, Maine, and sophomore Sarah Tressell of Newtown, Pa., helped Bates earn six points in the high jump. Each leaped 4-11, with Belanger earning All-NESCAC honors with her tie for third, while Tressell tied for seventh by taking more attempts to clear the height. The Bobcats also got points in the steeplechase from sophomore Beth Pagnotta of Hookset, N.H., who finished 6th with an NCAA provisional time of 11:41.55, and rookie Karissa Carey of East Bridgewater, Mass., who took eighth in the hammer throw after entering the meet seeded 10th.

For complete results from the NESCAC championships, visit the meet’s home page at http://abacus.bates.edu/sports/mtrack/nescac2002.