2007 Cross Country News
NEWS UPDATE (10/6/07)
Bates Finishes Second to Trinity at James Early Invitational
Bates was the runner up team at the Westfield State-hosted James Early Invitational on Saturday. Bates finished second out of 21 teams with 42 points. Trinity College finished first with 36, and Vassar was third with 107.
Today was an especially hot day, with temperatures hovering somewhere in the 80s by the high-noon start time of the men's race. The course began on an open field with a sharp right hairpin turn (which caused several runners to take violent spills less than 400 meters into the race). The mile up front was a brisk 4:55 pace for the weather conditions. The lead group consisted of Matt Anderson and Wesley Halstead, both of Trinity, and Dunlap and Fudge. Radio and Percy worked through 2.5-4 miles together, and a nice late surge by Griff (on his 21st birthday) propelled him in the final 200 meters.
Dunlap and Fudge finished in 3rd and 4th respectively with times of 26:46 and 26:47. Anderson won in 26:36, and Halstead was second in 26:45. Radio was 9th overall in 27:23, Griff was 14th in 27:40, Percy was 15th in 27:42, Sauce was 17th in 27:51, and T Unit was 21st in 28:01.
Trinity's top two runners, Hunter Norte and Sam Moorhead, both competed individually today at Open New Englands in Boston.
We were pleased with how we ran today, and we're looking forward to the State Meet at Pineland next weekend.
Results from today's meet are posted here.
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NEWS (9/1/07)
Alumni Beat Varsity 26-29 at Alumni Race
The Alumni team just edged out the Bates Varsity on Saturday at the most recent installment of the annual Cross Country Alumni Race. Race conditions were perfect, with temperatures in the mid-70s, and a cool breeze present throughout the day. The new Bates Athletic Director, Kevin McHugh, fired the gun at the start of the race. McHugh has run some 13 marathons, including Boston, New York, and Marine Corps. The 4 mile race was, once again, different than past years due to a great deal of construction in the middle of campus.
Former All American cross country runners, nordic skiier, and Olympian Justin Freeman '96 overwhelmingly won the race. Freeman set out a hot pace at the get-go, and, while he was pursued by teammate Steve Monsulick '07, he was unchallenged and won by a considerable margin. Steve finished second, and was followed by Varsity runners Matt Dunlap and Doug "Fudge" Brecher in 3rd and 4th place. Mike Danahy '00 was 5th, Harrison Little and CJ Murray were 6th and 7th, and Mike Downing '05 was 8th.
Coach Fresh had this to say about the race: "For the most part that was a nice job today. Dunny equaled his time from last year, Doug improved by 29 seconds, CJ by 4 seconds, Griff had the biggest improvement at 55 seconds, Dillon improved by 38 seconds, Unit improved by 14 seconds, and Viti improved by 39 seconds. We had strong initial performances by Ben Taska 22:54, Zane Rooney 23:40, and Alex Hegevall-Clarke at 23:50. We made it a very close race, that was a very impressive top 3 for the alums and one of the best alum groups we have had for this meet. Dunny and Doug did an exceptional job when challenged late in the race by a surging Mike Danahy to prevent him from giving the alums a 1-2-3 sweep. That gave us a chance. CJ moved up a lot over the last two miles and Griff was able to catch Paul Hammond to help us close out before the alums. Certainly there is plenty of room for improvement, however we saw some nice things
Following the race was a BBQ alongside the track, where Varsity runners and Alumni from as far back as 1974 were able to eat and talk about the 'good old days.' Alumni who showed up included Freeman, Monsulick, Andrew Tibbetts, Robbie Gomez, Downing, Danahy, Paul Freeman, Pat Wales-Dinan, mile record holder Jaime Goodberlet, Matt Twiest, Tom Rooney, Joe Gromelski, and many others.
Results will be posted when they are available, as well as a course map.
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NEWS (8/20/07)
Erin Bougie Finishes Bike Ride Across America
On August 8, women's team member Erin Bougie '07 finished her bike ride across America. Bougie, who lives in Caribou, Maine, graduated from Bates on Sunday, May 27. That Wednesday, she arrived in New Haven, CT where three separate trips were departing: San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. The trip was organized by Habitat for Humanity. In order to participate, Bougie had to raise about $4000 (to which many Bates trackies contributed). It also meant that on her "days off," she had to help build houses with local chapters of Habitat for Humanity all across the country. Many churches provided places to stay for the night along the way, and, in each town they stopped, the group gave a presentation to interested townspeople about the Habitat for Humanity mission.
Bougie started from New Haven on Saturday, June 2, and finished in Portland, OR on Wednesday, August 8. "It was pretty cool to go from one ocean to the other one, but I still think its cooler that I qualified for the Boston Marathon on my first try," said Bougie, referring to the marathon she ran in Maine a week before she graduated. "At the beginning I remember looking at people and thinking 'Dear God, this is going to be the longest summer ever, this going to drag on. But before I knew it, halfway through, I was like, 'Wow, we're in Wyoming right now. It's like college in a way: you start off as a freshman and you think, 'Wow this is going to be a long four years.' Suddenly you're a senior and you're wondering where it all went!."
Bougie's trek was not without drama, however. She sustained neck injuries after a crash in Wyoming, which impacted the end of her trip. "About two hours outside of Casper, Wyoming, somehow I fell. No one saw me fall, they just heard me scream in the back. When they got to me I was unconscious on the ground. They got an ambulance and I went to a "rinky dink" hospital where I got an x ray and a CAT-scan. I had to be transferred to Casper, so I took an ambulance again. It turned out I injured my C1 vertebrae, so I got to wear a neck brace for the rest of the trip. I was forced to ride along the group in the van, but after about 2 weeks I got back on the bike. I was just like 'I'm tired of riding in the van, I'm done!' I definitely wasn't supposed to do that." She was able, however, to ride into Portland and dip her bike ceremoniously into the Pacific, two months and 3000 miles after she had dipped the same tires into the Atlantic in New Haven.
When she got off the plane in Boston, she met up with fellow runners KMoore, Emily Williams, Allison Leonard, Izzy Alexander, and Jessie Smith, all of whom gave her a warm welcome home. Now, Bougie is back in Caribou, resting up and training for the Alumni Race at Bates on September 1. She has earned somewhat of a minor celebrity status in Caribou, as her local TV news did a story on Bougie. "I'm able to run and roller-ski right now," says Bougie. "Because of my neck, some positions are stiff, but it's so much better than how it started off back in Wyoming." Bougie reports that she, along with Emily and KMoore, will definitely be back at Bates for the Alumni Race.
And it turns out there are other side-effects of riding across America, using only one's legs as a motor: "My quads have quadroupled in size, which is rediculous!"
The homepage of the group can be found here
A bog from Bougie's route can be found by clicking here
Top (L-R): Talking to a local community in Nebraska; hugging a state-line pole in Wyoming
Bottom (L-R): The final state of the trip; dipping the bikes in the Pacific
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NEWS (8/10/07)
Two More Beach to Beacon Photos
(L-R): Ira, Mike D, and co don Superman (and woman) costumes during the race. Abby Samuelson leads a pack of three guys trailing behind her.
Photos courtesy of Allison Wade, www.eliterunning.com
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NEWS (8/9/07)
2007 DIII New England XC Preview
Compiled by Amherst, the preview is based upon information provided by the coaches of the respective teams and not on the rankings administrator and will be updated towards the end of the summer.
Click here to view preview
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NEWS (8/7/07)
Bates Runners Race Well at Beach to Beacon
While Percy and T Unit were out in New Hampshire hiking Mt. Washington this past weekend, several Bates runners were participating in the 10th Annual Beach to Beacon 10k in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The race was founded by Joan Benoit Samuelson, and started at Crescent Beach and ended at Portland Head Light (the nation's first commissioned lighthouse).
This year, 4,839 runners officially signed up for and completed the race. The quality of the race can be seen by a cursory glance at the results: 16 sub-30 minute performances, and 4 sub-28 minute finishes. It was a heated battle between those final four finishers. Duncan Kibet of Kenya beat out fellow countryman Evans Cheryiout by 0.5 seconds to win with a time of 27:51 (4:30 per mile). Third place was John Yuda of Tanzania with a time of 27:55. Fourth place was Meb Keflezighi with 27:57.
We knew Steve Monsulick was in good shape, but we were all impressed with his 28th place finish in 32:11.6 (5:11/mile), only 4 seconds slower than his lifetime PR, which is on the track. Last year, Steve finished 52nd in 33:59 (5:29/mile), so he is clearly a favorite to win the Alumni Meet at Bates on Sept. 1. Matt Dunlap finished in 64th with an overall time of 34:03 (5:29/mile), good enough for ninth in his age group. Dunlap admitted that his 5:03 first mile was a little ambitious, but it was still a great performance. Somewhere in there, CJ Murray ran 35 and change, but his exact results are unknown as of now. Dan Johnson finished in 89th place with a time of 35:16 (5:41/mile). Paul Hammond finished one place and 3 seconds ahead of Pat "Ira" Wales-Dinan. Hammond was 93rd with a time of 35:20. However, Ira ran 36:29 last year, so he was over a full minute faster this year. Nordic skiier Harry Poole '09 (a close friend of the cross country team) finished in 131st with a time of 37:51 (5:57/mile). Mike Downing '05 finished in 304th with a time of 41:06, but that was because he, along with Ira were wearing Superman costumes throughout the race. Last year, Downing finished 27th in 32:35, so we'll assume the Superman costume was dragging him down! On the women's team side, Abby Samuelson '09 finished with a time of 43:41, sixth in her age group.
Matt Biggart participated in the race, and, despite an illness, finished in 42:01, representing the Ameriprise Financial team in the Corporate Challenge (Ameriprise finished 5th overall in the Mixed Gender results) Afterward, Biggart hosted all of the Batesies at his apartment in Portland for the night after the race.
Results from the race can be viewed by clicking here.
Top Row (L-R): Steve Monsulick '07, Matt Dunlap '08, and CJ Murray '09
Bottom Row (L-R): Dan Johnson '06, Paul Hammond '82
Photos courtesy of Allison Wade, www.eliterunning.com
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NEWS (8/1/07)
August Update, Whiffleball Tournament
With only a couple weeks remaining until the start of the 2007 season, the men's cross country team is gearing up and making the most out of their summer training. Dirt, Watson, and CJ recently reunited in New York City for the Rage Against the Machine reunion concert on Randall's Island on July 28. Percy (who was an extra in the new Indiana Jones movie at the end of June) and T-Unit (along with former Bates runner Dave Krause) will be hiking Mt. Washington for the first time this weekend. Griff Stabler is currently in Belgium until August 15, where he is meeting up with friends from his year spent in Chile, during which he deferred from Bates for a year after high school. Prior to T Unit's return to the US from Munich on July 25, he and Sauce spent several days together with former women's team member Teah Muller '07. The three spent time in both Salzburg, Austria, and Munich, Germany.
On Saturday, July 28, Bates XC sent a team to the Annual Coach Fresh Whiffleball Tournament. This is a day-long tournament that Coach Fresh hosts at his house in Turner, Maine, that is open to nearly everyone in the Lewiston-Auburn community. Dunlap, Monsulick, and Watson represented Bates XC - Dunny and Steve because they live so close, and Watson because, well, because Watson is God's gift to whiffleball. Anyway, those three joined forces with another team they went undefeated in the round robin tournament, earning the top seed and first round bye going into the playoffs. Lack of depth and fatigue contributed to a second round loss in the playoffs to the experienced "Wiffling Irish." The Irish went on to be co champions with the Fellowship of the Swat after an epic 2-2, 5 inning battle. Only darkness prevailed this battle of titans! Team members of the Fellowship included Coach Goewey, Coach Fresh and Justin Fereshetian. A great day for all. Mike Watson won the coveted 'Cy Young' pitching contest.
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NEWS (6/26/07)
Tim "T-Unit" McCall Finishes 9th out of 7,000 in 29th Annual Munich Half Marathon
Yesterday (Monday, June 25), Unit participated in the 29th Annual Munich City Run. Here is what Tim had to say about the event:
"This race was another half-marathon. It was quite an
experience; there were over 7000 participants. While I ran a time slightly
slower then in Vienna, the times overall in this race were slower. The wining
time in Munich was 71 minutes, while in Vienna the winning time was 65 minutes.
In Vienna, my finishing time was 77 minutes, yesterday it was 79 minutes;
however, in Vienna, I finished 17th overall, while yesterday I finished 9th
overall - I was really surprised when I learned that. I had no idea that was
the case during the race. Anyway, I feel ok with the way things turned."
Results from the race can be found here
And for those of us that don't speak German:
1. Click on '29. Sport Scheck Stadlauf Munchen
2. On the top table, change 50 under 'Anzahl Ergebnisse' to 100 and click the enter button
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