Program Notes

Four-time All-America honoree
Izzy Alexander '09

2009 Outdoor Season Notes

Another strong indoor season, marked by the Bobcats' second straight sixth-place finish at the New England Division III Indoor Championships, is expected to carry over into an equally strong outdoor season for the Bates College women's track and field team.

Bates began the outdoor season in impressive fashion, placing third out of 16 teams at the Tufts Snowflake Classic and second out of 15 teams at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Meet at Fitchburg State.

One of the team's strengths will be its throwers. Junior Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan (Topsham, Maine) last year became the team's second athlete ever to win All-America honors in the 20-pound weight throw (after Keelin Godsey '06), and she followed that with her second All-America nod at this year's indoor nationals, placing sixth in the weight. She also competed at indoor nationals in the shot put and followed that with a trip to outdoor NCAAs for the shot and the hammer throw. Duncan leads a talented group of Bates throwers that includes junior Laura Smith (Boulder, Colo.) and sophomore Sarah Ellen Godek (Gilford, N.H.).

Also hoping to make a return trip to the NCAA Championships will be senior co-captain Izzy Alexander (Harvard, Mass.), a four-time All-American and two-time NESCAC champion in the 400-meter hurdles. Alexander, who owns nine school records, expects to be a regular point-scorer in the 800 meters, the hurdles and the relays.

Vantiel Elizabeth Duncan '10 proved to be one of the top sophomore female throwers in Division III last year. (Photo by Tom Leonard '78)

Senior co-captain Jen Marino (Methuen, Mass.), an Academic All-American last year along with Alexander and Duncan, leads the Bates jumpers, sprinters and hurdlers group. Marino, who owns three Bates jumping records, qualified provisionally for NCAAs last year and will look to make her first trip to nationals in the triple or long jump.

Alexander and Marino are both on Bates' 4x400 relay team, along with sophomore Dana Lindauer (Needham, Mass., senior Tara Higgins (Jeffersonville, Vt.) and at times the promising first-year Elizabeth Carleton (Westborough, Mass.).

Other first-years who made an immediate impact in the indoor season were Tina Tobin (Lowell, Mass.), who has already established herself as one of the finest hurdlers in Bates history, and jumper Taylor Piers (Falmouth, Maine).

Another event group with great depth will be the distance runners, who include cross country team standouts such as senior co-captain Allie Goldstein (Needham, Mass.), junior Katie Bash (Wallingford, Pa.), sophomore Alex Alberto (Concord, Mass.) and sophomore Chloe Bourne (Litchfield, Conn.).

A pair of pole vaulters, junior Lily Gordon (Scarsdale, N.Y.) and sophomore Megan Schleck (Mendota Heights, Minn.), will also be looked upon to score points and qualify for late-season meets.

With head coach Jay Hartshorn on maternity leave, Matt Capone '07 is serving as the team's interim head coach, a role he filled successfully last year with the men's track and field team.