Men's track and field first out of 20 at Fitchburg State
April 4, 2009

Tom Esponnette '12 finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, with Conor Welch '10 (background) right behind in third. (Photo by Tom Leonard '78)
FITCHBURG, Mass. -- The Bates College men's track and field team took first place out of 20 teams at the Jim Sheehan Memorial meet Saturday at Fitchburg State College.

The Bobcats scored 153 points, edging Southern Maine (147.5). UMass-Dartmouth was third with 106 points.

Junior Rich McNeil (Lawrence, Mass.) won the shot put competition, with a top heave of 45-11.25. McNeil also placed second in the hammer throw (158-05) and third in the discus throw (138-09).

Other top-three performances by the Bobcats included senior Mark Liu (Lexington, Mass.) placing third in the hammer (151-03); first-year Candido Bousquet (Colombo, Sri Lanka) placing third in the long jump (21-01.25); sophomore Tom Esponnette (Auburn, Maine) and junior Conor Welch (Newburyport, Mass.) finishing second and third  in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, in 9:53.48 and 9:53.94, respectively; sophomore Ryan Quinn (Watertown, Mass.) placing third in the 400 in 50.48;  the 4x800 relay team placing first in 8:31.80; and the 4x100 relay team coming in third in 44.33.

Bates will compete next Saturday at Colby along with MIT and Southern Maine, starting at 12:30 p.m.

MEET RESULTS