Bates College Men's Cross
Country

at Boston College, Sept. 12, 1997 - The Bates College Men's Cross Country team officially open its season at Franklin Park on Saturday with a tough opening meet against division I powers, Boston College, The University of Connecticut and The University of New Hampshire. Despite placing fourth in the meet there were many bright spots for the Bobcats. Boston College won the meet by edging out UConn 32 to 38. UNH followed with 67 and Bates tallied 97.

Weather conditions at race time significantly effected many peoples performance. The Temperature hovered in the low 80's with very high levels of humidity. Justin Freeman '97 battled the conditions and the competition and led the Bobcats with an outstanding individual performance, placing 3rd overall with a time of 25:11. Mike Danahy '00 ran second for the Bobcats and finished 21st overall with a time of 26:57. Not far behind was Matt Twiest '00 and Brendan Hahesy '00 who placed 23rd and 24th with times of 27:06 and 27:13 respectively. For Hahesy the performance also represented a lifetime personal best which indicates that even more is to come later in the season for Brendan. Closing out the scoring for Bates was John McGrath '00 who placed 27th at 27:34.

"The race was a good opening season meet for us. Our men competed very hard. Despite the score, our guys responded very well to the competition. Our top five placed inside of every team's top 8. We need to use this experience to motivate us to aggressively attach the good division III competition we will see throughout the rest of year. Later in the season this weekend's meet will prove to be very valuable." Coach Al Fereshetian's comments on the Bates performance.

Team scores                       Bates Times
Boston College           32       3.  Justin Freeman     25:11
Univ. of Connecticut     38       21. Mike Danahy        26:57
Univ. of New Hampshire   67       23. Matt Twiest        27:06
Bates College            97       24. Brendan Hahesy     27:13
                                  27. Brian McGrath      27:34

at Tufts, Sept. 20, 1997 - The Bobcats, ranked fourth in New England, hoped to take out two of the other top 10 teams in the region, Tufts and MIT. After senior co-captain Justin Freeman (Franklin, N.H.) won the race by nearly 15 seconds, and Mike Danahy (South Windsor, Conn.) finished ninth, the rest of the team was bunched from 15th to 18th places.
Team scores:
 1. Tufts  31    2. MIT  44      3. Bates  55
 Individual Results

 1.     Justin Freeman          Bates   26:57
 2.     Mike Parkins            MIT     27:11
 3.     Jason Burke             Tufts   27:17
 4.     Rod Hemmingway          Tufts   27:26
 5.     Chris McGuire           MIT     27:29
 6.     Matt Lyons              Tufts   27:31
 7.     Mark Strauss            MIT     27:53
 8.     Rich Hemmingway         Tufts   28:06
 9.     Michael Danahy          Bates   28:08
 10.    David Patterson         Tufts   28:14
 15.    Chris Lupo              Bates   29:06
 16.    Steve Dutton            Bates   29:07
 17.    Brendan Hahesy          Bates   29:14
 18.    Matt Twiest             Bates   29:18


Codfish Bowl at Franklin Park, Sept. 27, 1997 - The Bobcats had one of their top outins of the season, placing second of 17 teams in the prestigious Codfish Bowl meet in Franklin Park in Boston, home of 1997 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. The Bobcats, ranked 4th in New England, topped No. 3 Amherst by 20 points. Senior Justin Freeman (Andover, N.H.) finished second in 24:45, while sophomore Mike Danahy (South Windsor, Conn.) placed 10th and sophomore Matt Twiest (Albuquerque, N.M.) was 13th. In all, 11 of 17 Bobcat runner had personal records on the day.
Team scores            Individual Results
1. Tufts 44            1. Robert Mitchell, Amherst 24:35
2. Bates 77     2. Justin Freeman, Bates 24:45
3. Amherst 97          3. Matt Lyons, Tufts 25:07
4. UMass Lowell 112    4. Rod Hemingway, Tufts 25:10
5. Keene State 123     5. Matt Santo, Conn. Coll. 25:20
6. Coast Guard 142     10. Mike Danahy, Bates 25:40
7. Southern Maine 191  13. Matt Twiest, Bates 25:57
8. Conn. Coll. 210     23. Brendan Hahesy, Bates 26:05
9. Trinity 222         29. John McGrath, Bates 26:33
10. Merrimack 304      37. Steve Dutton, Bates 26:36

State Meet at Springbrook G.C., Oct. 11, 1997 - Senior Juston Freeman (Andover, N.H.) and sophomore Matt Twiest (Albuquerque, N.M.) finished in the top two spots, with both breaking the Springbrook Golf Club course record as the Bobcats successfully defended their State of Maine Cross Country championship, defeating Bowdoin by just two points, 31 to 33. Freeman finished in 25:16, breaking the old mark, held by John Fitzgerald '87, by more than 30 seconds. Twiest ran 25:39, nine seconds better than Fitzgerald's mark. Sophomore Mike Danahy (South Windsor, Conn.) finished in fifth place, earning his first All-State honor while classmate John McGrath (Merrimack, N.H.) had his first top 10 finish of the season, placing 10th.
Team Results            Indiviual Results
Bates 31             1. Justin Freeman, Bates   25:16
Bowdoin 33              2. Matt Twiest, Bates   25:39
Southern Maine 81       3. Peter Duyan, Bowdoin    25:53
Colby 103               4. Mike Peyron, Bowdoin    25:56
Maine-Presque Isle 155  5. Mike Danahy, Bates   26:04
Unity 161              10. John McGrath, Bates  26:50
Maine Maritime 199     13. Adam Kessler, Bates  27:08
Univ of New England 207

Open New Englands at Franklin Park, Oct. 17, 1997 - In one of the largest fields coach Al Fereshetian's squad will face all season, the Bobcats had a fine showing at the Open New England Championships, finishing 13th overall and fifth among Division III teams, the exact same spots they finished last season. Leading the way once again was senior cocaptain Justin Freeman (Andover, N.H.), who placed 16th overall in with a time of 24:33, placing him fourth among Division III runners and improving on his 41st place in 1996. Sophomore Matt Twiest (Albuquerque, N.M.) was 60th with a time of 25:26, down six spots from 1996 but cutting his time by one second. Sophomores Mike Danahy (South Windsor, Conn.), John McGrath (Merrimack, N.H.) and Adam Kessler (Niskayuna, N.Y.) rounded out the Bobcats' scorers for the second straight meet.
Team Scores of Note    Bates Individual Results
1. Brown 55            16. Justin Freeman 24:33
8. Brandeis 269        60. Matt Twiest 25:26
10. Williams 274       74. Mike Danahy 25:37
11. Tufts 317         114. John McGrath 26:08
12. Amherst 388       139. Adam Kessler 26:30
13. Bates 402         143. Steve Dutton 26:31
14. MIT 409           151. Brendan Hahesy 26:34
16. Bowdoin 463
17. Keene State 483
19. Maine 519
27. Wesleyan 753
29. Colby 802

Bowdoin Invitational, Oct. 25, 1997 - The Bates College Men's Cross Country Team tuned up for next week's NESCAC Championships to be hosted by Bates at Springbrook Golf Course, by running a 5,000 meter cross country race at Bowdoin. Despite placing second to the host Polar Bears, Bates had many fine performances, and edged nationally ranked MIT. Bowdoin won the meet with 34 points, Bates was next with 48, MIT placed third with 50 points. Bates used the meet to further prepare some individuals while resting others. Bates rested lead runner Justin Freeman (Andover, N.H.), and fellow top five runners John McGrath (Hanover, N.H.) and Adam Kessler (Niskayuna, N.Y.). This allowed a number of Bobcats the opportunity to step up and fill the gaps. Matt Twiest '00 (Albuquerque, N.M.) ran his best race of the year, eliminating a 40-meter gap opened up by two strong MIT runners one mile into the race. Twiest used a powerful surge to close the gap and take the lead for good at two miles. From there Twiest used his strength to pull away to a four second victory and a fine time of 15:28. Not far back, Mike Danahy '00 (S. Windsor, Conn.) waged a battle with four Bowdoin runners beating all but one in recording a 5th place finish overall at 15:39. Brendan Hahesy '00 placed 3rd for the Cats and 11th overall with a time of 16:06. Steve Mague '01 had the best race of his young career, placing 4th for Bates and 13th overall. Steve's time was 16:13. Steve Dutton '00 closed out the scoring for the Bobcats placing 18th overall at 16:20. Bates hopes to parley the experience gained in this meet and the home course advantage to a strong performance next week at NESCAC Championship. There they will face tough competition from Williams, Tufts, Amherst and Bowdoin. The men's championship will start at 1:00 pm. Other Bates finishers
        20      John Cullinan '99                       16:29
        24      Scott Balicki '01                       16:41
        28      Kurt Deschermeier '00                   16:50
        31      Trevor Emory '00                        16:56
        32      Chris Lupo '01                          16:57
        33      Dave Ennis '99                          17:04
        38      Michael Crocker '98                     17:26
        44      John Hagberg '00                        17:56
        51      Chris Lau                               19:22
        52      Chris Somma                             19:24

NESCAC Championships at Springbrook G.C., Nov. 1, 1997 - Senior co-captain Justin Freeman (Andover, N.H.) added a NESCAC championship to his State of Maine title, winning his third race of the season by a comfortable 22-second margin. The Bobcats finished third overall, their best finish since taking second place in 1994. Freeman's time of 25:37 was one of the 15 best in Springbrook Golf Course history. He is the first Bates overall champion since Robert Parks 1991. Joining Freeman on the All-NESCAC team were sophomores Mike Danahy (South Widson, Conn.), who finished seventh in 26:35, and sophomore Matt Twiest (Albuquerque, N.M.), who was 10th in 26:53.
Men's Team Scores: Williams 44, Tufts 72, Bates 76, Bowdoin 106, Amherst
109, Wesleyan 196, Colby 198, Conn. College 225, Trinity 232, Middlebury
242, Hamilton 296

Men's Individual Results
 Name				CTime	School
 1. Justin Freeman		25:37	Bates
 2. Rob Mitchell		25:59	Amherst
 3. Rodney Hemingway		26:04	Tufts
 4. Daniel McCue		26:16	Williams
 5. Geoffrey Hutchison		26:28	Williams
 6. Dan Chandler		26:33	Amherst
 7. Michael Danahy		26:35	Bates
 8. Paul Alsdorf		26:44	Williams
 9. Michael Peyron		26:46	Bowdoin
10.Matt Twiest		26:53	Bates
11.Matt Lyons			26:55	Tufts
12.TimothyCampbell		26:59	Williams
13.Matt Santo			27:00	Connecticut College
14.Richard Hemingway		27:01	Tufts
15.Reed Harlow			27:05	Williams
16.Wilson Averhart		27:07	Colby
17.Mike Keating			27:09	Wesleyan
18.Edward Wasserman		27:10	Williams
19.Jason Burke			27:18	Tufts
20.Timothy Kuhner		27:21	Bowdoin
21.Anders Peterson		27:22	Wesleyan
22.Stephan Allison		27:23	Bowdoin
23.Jeffrey Edmunds		27:26	Williams
24.Herbert Anderson IV		27:27	Williams
25.Peter Duyan			27:28	Bowdoin
 31. Brendan Hahesy		27:42	Bates
33. Steve Dutton		27:49	Bates
47. Adam Kessler		28:25	Bates
48. John McGrath		28:26	Bates

ECAC Championships at Westfield State, Nov. 8, 1997 - Without their top seven runners, the Bobcats finished 11th out of 27 teams at the ECAC championships. First-year runner Scott Balicki (Yonkers, N.Y.) was Bates' top finisher, placing 45th in 27:31. Sophomore Kurt Deschermeier (Newton, Conn.) was next in 72nd place with a time of 28:04. The Bobcats' next meet is the New England Regional championship, held at Southern Maine. A top three finish there will gain the team a berth at the NCAA championships.

NESCAC teams at ECACS       Bates finishers
2. Williams, 71             45. Scott Balicki, 27:31
3. Tufts, 94                72. Kurt Deschermeier, 28:04
8. Colby, 270               84. Steve Mague, 28:19
11. Bates, 381       89. Trevor Emory, 28:21
12. Conn College, 408       91. John Cullinan, 28:24
13. Middlebury, 429        116. Dave Ennis, 28:48
14. Wesleyan, 481          163. Mike Crocker, 29:47
22. Amherst, 589

New England Regional Championships at Southern Maine, Nov. 14, 1997 - Please see related press release
NCAA Championships at Franklin Park, Nov. 22, 1997 
See related release
For further information, please contact 
Adam Levin, sports information director

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© 1997 Bates College. All Rights Reserved. Last modified: 10/17/97 by asl