|
 Coach Al Fereshetian headed one of the youngest teams in his eight-year tenure at Bates in 2001. With one junior, one sophomore and five first-years representing Bates at the New England regionals, the Bobcats finished seventh, just two places shy of their second trip to the NCAA championships. With all those runners enjoying another year of experience and a fine rookie class to push them, expectations are high for the 2002 campaign.
Co-captains Justin Easter '03 and Malcolm Gray '03 lead the way for the Bobcats in 2002. Easter is a four-time All-American who finished 19th at the 2001 NCAA cross country championships at Augustana College in Illinois. Easter, a three-sport athlete, has been to the NCAAs in nine consecutive seasons, highlighted by his 2002 NCAA championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Gray has improved consistently in his career, including a lifetime best of 28:08 over 8K at last year's Tufts Hayseed Invitational, good for fourth place. Bates' talented sophomore crop includes Maine residents Michael Downing '05 of Gorham, who missed All-New England honors by just three seconds, and Robert Gomez '05 of Waldoboro, a two-time high school state Class D champion.
Preseason begins Aug. 28 with the 30th Annual Alumni Meet on campus three days later. Bates' schedule features multi-team meets against the best programs in New England, leading up to the State of Maine, Open New England, NESCAC and NCAA championships. The Bobcats' annual goal is to be among the best teams regionally and nationally in Division III. Bates runs its home meets at the Twinbrook Recreational Area in Cumberland, which provides varied terrain and is popular with both the Bobcats and their opponents.
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
Release Archive...
|
|
 |
|
 Al Fereshetian, the 1998 New England Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, is a 1983 graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He was an assistant for the women’s track and field team at UNH before assisting at the University of Kansas from 1984 to 1988. As head coach at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., from 1989 to 1995, Fereshetian’s men’s cross country teams won the Southern Conference championship three times and placed fifth in the 1994 National Invitational at Penn State. Also in 1994, his teams were ranked 20th nationally in Division I. Fereshetian has earned three conference cross country coach-of-the-year honors and four track and field coach-of-the-year awards. Assistant coach Todd Goewey, in his fourth year at Bates, also works with the distance and middle distance runners in track. (afereshe@bates.edu) |
|
|
|
|
