2006 Cross Country News

KMoore Earns All-American Status at Nationals!!

KMoore not only qualified for XC Nationals for the first time, she also became an All American earlier this morning at the race hosted by Wilmington College in Ohio. KMoore finished in 32nd place (top 35 are All American) and was the 11th NESCAC runner across the line. Considering Middlebury and Amherst went 1-2 in the team results (Amherst was one single point behind Middlebury) with Tufts in 5th and Williams in 8th, that's pretty damn impressive on KMoore's part.

She ran 23:50 over the 6k course. By comparison, 1st place was 22:31, 35th place was 23:54, and 36th place was 23:56. Guess it goes to show how important 6 seconds at any point during a race can be.

KMoore said today that while the weather was really nice out, the surface conditions were similar to NESCACs as it had recently poured. It's clear looking at the results that something was up because the times are ridiculously slow. In the men's race, for example, only 6 runners broke 27 minutes and 26:31 was the winning time.

Significantly, KMoore is the first athlete in Bates history to earn All American titles in both cross country and track. Her eighth place performance last spring in the steeplechase also earned her a title.

While New England dominated the women's race,  the New England men did not do too well. Teams and individuals that have habitually had phenomenal seasons did not peak at this race. Bowdoin, for example, was the 3rd New England team finishing in 17th, 2 places behind Wesleyan. Hunter Norte, who went undefeated this season finished in 160th with a time of 29:06 and was Trinity's number two. There were only 2 All Americans from New England. Archie Abrams from Bowdoin finished in 24th and Jimmy Butcher from Middlebury finished in 34th.

Calvin College won the men's race once again, taking scoring places 1, 3, 8, 12, and 13. Their first non-scoring runner was an All American in 25th place. Williams finished in 7th overall, Wesleyan was 15th, Bowdoin 17th, and Trinity 31st out of the 32 competing teams.

Men's Individual Results

Men's Team Results

Women's Individual Results

Women's Team Results

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NEWS (11/12/06)

Bates Ends Season with 12th Place Performance at Regionals

While Monsulick's 21st place performance in 26:22 and Dunlap's 25th place finish in 26:26 were good enough for All-Region status, it was not enough to garner themselves or the team a trip to Nationals next weekend. Bates finished in 12 place at yesterday's DIII New England Regional meet, held for the second year at Springfield College. Trinity sophomore Hunter Norte took a repeat win yesterday, two weeks after having won the NESCAC meet. It was generally assumed that either Williams or Bowdoin would take the overall win (although the top 2 teams go to Nationals regardless), and Williams ended up getting it by placing three runners in the top ten, and having all five scorers make the All Region team. Trinity finished in 3rd and Wesleyan was in 4th by 1 point, so both those teams can expect at-large bids to Nationals. Tufts was close behind in 5th place, but it is not certain that they will be selected to go to Ohio next weekend.

Yesterday was a perfect day, weather wise. The course, for those that don't know, is on a rolling golf course and is essentially a two-loop course. It is a hair over 5 miles and is comparable to our course at Twinbrook. Bates changed up their gear yesterday and wore some new retro-style under-armor jerseys that Coach had just gotten, and they looked pretty sick. The race went off at 11:00 without a glitch and the pace started off pretty fast.

Following Dunlap was Fudge, who had arguably the best race of his collegiate career, finishing in 69th place in 27:21. This was a mere two places behind Stampy and two places in front of Ken Akiha from Bowdoin, who has had an excellent cross country season this fall. Dylan McGuffin was next for Bates in 80th place with a time of 27:35 and was followed by Conor Welch in 93rd place (27:48), Radio in 113th (28:07), and Percy - who ran the worst race of his life - in 186th (29:57).

So this wraps up the 2006 cross country season for Bates. Looking back, it seems like the best team effort of the season was back at Open New Englands on October 7, as most people stepped up that day and contributed to a great team score. It will be tough losing Steve, but we'll come back again next year ready to go.

Until then, indoor track started a week ago. We've got some work to go do....

Team results from Regionals can be found here

Individual results can be found here

Also of interest is an article published in the Bowdoin student newspaper about the NESCAC rash. It's worth checking out at this link.

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NEWS UPDATE (11/4/06)

Bates 1-5 Finish Within 25 Seconds of Each Other at ECACs

 Bates finished 13th out of 40 teams in this morning at the ECAC Championships held at Williams College. The order of Bates finishers was Sauce (69th/281 in 28:06), CJ (80th, 28:20), Watson (84th, 28:26), Whalen (87th, 28:29), T Unit (89th, 28:33), Adam "Hawk" Blythe (91st, 28:35), and Dirt (128th, 29:13). Only 25 seconds were between Sauce and T Unit, so it was a very tight pack of Bates runners.

The race got out to a very fast start, and many of the guys commented that it almost felt like a high school race with many teams that haven't been raced against this season and kids out in the front doing ridiculous things. The course was basically a two loop course that went into trail systems at times and was likened to a slightly easier version of Tufts' course in Grafton, MA.

Today's race also marked the final collegiate race for Ben "Dirt" Lepesqueur, who it was recently announced, will be running indoor track this season.

Full results can be found here.

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NEWS (10/30/06)

The NESCAC Rash

So an interesting development has recently unfolded since the race on Saturday. It turns out that the majority of the runners who competed at the NESCAC races from all 11 schools have developed itchy rashes on their legs (for the most part). Bates is no exception - though we thought that it was due to certain gorilla costumes worn and what not, so it was a surprise that many other schools are experiencing this. There is a letsrun.com forum about it and a NESCAC-wide Facebook group for people who are "infected."

Here is a reasonable explanation for why many of us have these rashes, according to a website linked from letsrun. It sounds like this is it since the symptoms of "Swimmers Itch (cercarial dermatitis)" occur within 48 hours of exposure to the water. It says it can last up to 7 days and is marked by a "patchy red pinpoint skin rash." Apparently this occurs in both freshwater and in marine coastal environments (ie The Marsh at Conn College where runners were knee/waist deep in the water). Another website said that the itching can last up to a week but will gradually go away on its own. It's not contagious, and any anti-itch lotion is the best treatment. Oh yeah...and apparently this likely originates from some parasite found in the water.

So in addition to developing the inevitable colds that were bound to happen after hanging out at the ocean on Saturday, the conference is infected with this crap: guys, girls, coaches, etc.

What an epic race day.

Here is a link that discusses Swimmer's Itch

Comments made by individuals from All 11 NESCAC teams regarding the NESCAC Rash (obtained from facebook.com and letsrun.com)

Amherst: "Sunday evening it hit me. My legs are on fire. I also fell face down in the swamp so I fear this could get much worse."

Bates: "It hurts!"

Bowdoin: "Does anyone have any calamine lotion I can borrow?"

Colby: "Does anyone not have the itch? We must analyze their genetic code in order to synthesize the antidote."

"And I find myself at 2am pleading for sleep, drowsy from the benadryl and unfortunately wondering why the Itching Just Won't Stop!!!"

Conn: "I am sorry if you did get it at our home course, and for the wind, rain, and mud that you all endured on Saturday, but hope that you did enjoy the experience." (Conn coach Jim Butler)

"I know it's bad when I call the health center and the first thing they ask me is if I'm on the cross-country team."

Hamilton: "A pair of Hamilton legs.... arguably the worst case in NESCACs"

"Is this going to go away on its own? Just another reason why long island sound is not safe..."

Middlebury: "How silly of us all to assume that everything would be better once we crossed the finish line..."

Tufts: "NESCAC lepers for lyfe!!! Gaawd i'm so damn itchy!"

"On second thought, maybe the sub-varsity race shoulda skipped both swamp loops."

Trinity: "WTFFFF!!!!!!!! THEY ITCH LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!!! why they HELL would they make us run through a f***ing marsh and make us have rashes!! / bug bites!!! And they told me bug bites but they've grown!! in millions!! all over my legs!! (can anyone tell i am SO irritated and annoyed?!?)"

Wesleyan: "Having been led the wrong and long way by my teammate to acquire a meaningless time while contracting Swamp Aids, Saturday was probably the least fulfilling race of my career. But dammit, I would do it all over again. A crazy memory to be relived at future NESCAC parties."

a few days later....

"After getting no sleep last night and having to take a scalding hot then freezing cold shower to calm the itching down, I consider rescinding my comment about still doing the race if I had the choice."

Williams: "One of our guys went to the dermotologist and had a sample of the rash taken. We should know by Wednesday whether it is a flesh-eating bacteria, a bird parasite, or just the plague."

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NEWS (10/28/06)

Monsulick finishes in 11th place, Bates finishes 9th overall at NESCACS

Bates finished in 9th place today at the NESCAC Championships, held at Connecticut College at Harkness State Park. Today, the weather map of Connecticut was dark red and it was certainly shown on the course, with gale force winds and torrential downpour. While no one ran PRs on the course, which was part of the original excitement of running at Conn for NESCACs, the runners were treated to course conditions that will quickly become that of NESCAC legend.

Steve Monsulick finished 11th for Bates in 26:47 and was followed by Dunlap in 31st place (27:09), Dylan McGuffin in 40th (27:41), Percy in 44th (27:35), Conor Welch in 46th (27:36), Doug Brecher in 59th (27:59), and CJ Murray in 62nd place (28:07). The pace throughout the race was quite slow, due to the weather conditions, so there were many opportunities for runners to step up. Williams won the race with a remarkable 30 points and was followed by Bowdoin with 81, Amherst with 144, and Trinity with 148.

There were some positives for Bates today. McGuffin, Percy, and Conor Welch all stepped up and ran better than they have in the past couple of races. Also, Bates was one of four teams to put their top 5 in the top 50 positions in the race (along with Williams, Bowdoin, and Amherst). That means that Bates was able to close out better than most of the other NESCAC teams. The problem was that the Bates pack was sitting around 40th place and they needed to be higher up. Ultimately, however, Bates was only 28 points away from Amherst, who finished 3rd overall in the race.

Bates will compete in the ECAC Championships at Williams College next weekend and again at NCAA Division III Regionals at Springfield College the following week.

Full results can be found here

Photos from the meet were again taken by Tom Leonard '78 and are posted online at this address until further notice. Once again, the password is "gobobcats"

Moxie Awards:

1. Tim McCall

2. CJ Murray

3. Conor Welch

4. Dylan McGuffin

5. Matt Dunlap

6. Andrew Percy

Also, thanks to all the parents and supporters of Bates (including running alums) who braved the unbelievable weather today and watched the team compete - we really appreciated it.

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NEWS (10/17/06)

Updated Open New England Photos

There are now two new albums for the Varsity and Sub-Varsity races at Open New Englands 2 weeks ago available in the Photos/Video section. Once again, all photos are courtesy of Tom Leonard '78.

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NEWS (10/14/06)

Monsulick wins State of Maine title in final 400 meters; Bates finishes 2nd overall

Steve Monsulick beat Colby's Dan Vassallo in the final 400 m long homestretch to win his first individual State of Maine title, and lead the team to a second place finish to overall winner Bowdoin. The meet was hosted by Bowdoin and was pancake flat, with a small exception being the "Gully Trail," which extended to about a half mile each in miles 3 and 5.

Vassallo went out in the lead from the start, causing Steve to go out with him. Behind Steve was a pack of several Bowdoin runners including Owen McKenna and Nate Krah, USM runners Nick and Curtis Wheeler, and several Bates runners including Dunlap, Conor Welch, Percy, Dylan McGuffin, and CJ Murray. The first mile went through in 5:11 for that pack and continued at a similar pace for much of the race. Dunlap finished 10th overall.

Full results are available here and in the Schedule/Results section of the site

Moxie Awards:

1. Steve Monsulick

2. Matt Dunlap

3. Dylan McGuffin

4. Doug "Fudge" Brecher

5. Adam "Hawk" Blythe

6. Ben "Dirt" Lepesqueur

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NEWS (10/7/06)   

Bates Improves New England Standings at Franklin Park     

Led by Monsulick's 18th place finish in 25:13, Bates finished in 18th place today at the Open New England Championships in Boston. Overall, the team had a great day. Dunlap broke 26 minutes for the first time, running 25:54. Freshman Conor "Leon" Welch had a HELL of a day, running 26:03. Considering that Steve ran 26:01 when he was a freshman and went to Nationals that same year, Leon's performance today is telling. He's been nailing the past couple workouts, so this wasn't a huge surprise, but still great to see him give it his all during the race. Radio also had a phenomenal race, running 26:12 - a HUGE PR for him. Dylan "Wilbur" McGuffin ran 26:35, Doug "Fudge" Brecher came out of the sub-varsity race with a time of 26:38, and CJ Murray rounded out the top seven with a time of 26:41.

The conditions for the race were perfect: sun, 60 degrees, a bit of a breeze. The mile got out to a fast start, and Steve, Dunlap, and Percy went through in 4:51 and 10:13 at the two mile mark. Bates is now sitting around 7th place in the New England standings.

Men's Varsity Results

Men's Junior Varsity Results

Men's Overall Team Results

Moxie Awards:

1. Steve Monsulick

2. Matt Dunlap

3. Conor Welch

4. Harrison Little

5. Doug Brecher

6. Will Viti

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NEWS (9/24/06)

Tom Leonard '78 Photos

The Bates team is lucky this season to have Tom Leonard '78 on board this season. Tom has come to several races during the past couple years and has taken photos for the team, but now that his daughter, Allison, is on the women's team he is going to be making more and more appearances...and with his camera.

That said, Tom made up a CD of last week's race for the site and gave it to us today at the Tufts meet. You can access many of these photos by clicking here or by visiting the Photos/Video section of the site.

Thanks again Tom

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NEWS (9/23/06)

Monsulick wins Jumbo Invitational; 3rd Fastest Bates performance ever

Monsulick won the Jumbo Invitational in Grafton, MA today, becoming the third fastest Bates runner on the course. Monsulick's time of 26:11 has only been bested by Dan Johnson and Justin Easter.

While last week was hot and balmy, today's race had perfect conditions. The sky was gray and threatening to rain the entire race, and the temperature must have been in the high 50s. The race got off to a moderately paced start, with Dunlap leading the pack. The first mile went through in 5:20 or so and then going down the hill in the 2nd mile, the pack consisted of Dunlap, Percy, Monsulick, Nate Brigham, Tomas Morrissey from Amherst, and a couple other Amherst runners. Monsulick kept moving through the pack and at the end, and we're talking down to the last 800 meters where the turn-off for the finish it, Monsulick was running with Tufts' Justin Chung and Steve just sprinted in to the finish and beat Chung by 16 seconds.

Overall, today's race went better than last week. The weather was certainly a factor, but in general, times were faster than last week at Twinbrook and times were faster than last year's at Grafton at the same meet. Dunlap was 7th overall today in 27:05. Dylan "Wilbur" McGuffin was 12th in 27:20, Percy was 15th in 27:31, Conor "Leon" Welch was 16th in 27:32, right behind Percy. Harrison was right behind Leon in 18th place in 27:35 and CJ Murray had a great rebound from last week's meet, finishing in 21st place and running 27:55.

Tim McCall had another great day, finishing in 33rd place and making the sub-29 minute list at Grafton by running 28:42. Alex Whalen was right behind Tim in 34th place with a time of 28:43. This was Whalen's first race of the season, coming back off an injury, and he achieved his goal of being top 12 on the team (he was 11th man today). Sam "Mia" "Schmuel" Murphy was 35th in 28:48, also making the sub-29 list. Schmuel was awarded a Moxie Award for his performance.

Overall it was a good day for Bates, and although we are not where we'd like to be, it was an improvement from last week. Tufts won the meet with 35 points, Amherst was 2nd with 36, Bates was 3rd with 51, and Fitchburg State was 4th with 120 points.

We have next weekend off, so our next race is October 7th in Boston for Open New Englands.

Full results can be found here.

Moxie Awards:

1. Steve Monsulick

2. Matt Dunlap

3. Conor Welch

4. Harrison Little

5. Griff Stabler

6. Sam Murphy

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NEWS (9/19/06)

NE DIII Weekly Poll Link...and T Unit

A new, quick-link has been added on the taskbar on the left. The link will take you to the Amherst-run page that complies weekly polls from coaches around New England. In addition to the weekly polls, the site also includes results from the weekend, featuring teams in the NESCAC and DIII New England region.

Also...Bates posed a nice little feature on T Unit's summer research on the front of the Bates webpage today. Here's the link.

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NEWS (9/16/06)

Bates finishes 3rd at Invitational

Bates finished third this afternoon at the Bates Invitational at Twinbrook Park in Cumberland, Maine. MIT won the meet by a large margin of 32 points. USM was 2nd with 65 points, Bates was 4th with 66 points, and Keene State took fourth overall with 69 points.

The race went off at 3 pm and started pretty slowly. It seemed like everyone's strategy was to relax for the first 2 miles. I don't know what it's been like in the rest of the country/New England, but in Maine it's been about 65 degrees for the past 3 weeks. Today it was 83 degrees and everyone felt it. The leaders went through the first mile in a conservative 5:20 or so. At around 2 miles, Curtis and Nick Wheeler moved up and started making their move that ended up giving them a third and fourth overall.

The Bates order of finishers was Percy in 6th place (27:33), Monsulick in 9th (27:46), Dylan "Wilbur" McGuffin '10 (28:08), Harrison Little (28:23), and Conor Welch (28:29) rounding out the Bobcats' top 5.

One runner who really had a huge day today was Tim McCall who was the 10th Batesie to cross the line in 36th place (29:39). Tim trained his tail off this summer, running 70+ mile weeks, and it's really starting to show.

Full results can be found here

Photos from the race can be found here

Moxie Awards:

1. Andrew Percy

2. Dylan McGuffin

3. Conor Welch

4. Harrison Little

5. Griff Stabler

6. Tim McCall

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NEWS (9/2/06)

Alumni Race

The 2006 Bates Cross Country season got off to a great start today. The 35th Annual Alumni Race went off today at 12:15. The alumni, led by Mike Downing's '05 overall victory, managed to beat the varsity team by 3 points. The alumni brought with them a championship team including Downing, Justin Freeman '98 fresh back from his nordic ski performance at the 2006 Torino Olympics last February, Matt Tweist '99, Paul Hammond '82 who recently finished in 2:38 at the Boston Marathon in April.

Following Downing who finished the 4 mile course in low 20 minutes was co captain Steve Monsulick. Freeman was third overall and was followed by freshman Dylan McGuffin. Matt Twiest '99 and Hammond followed behind. Andrew Percy was the third Bobcat in 21:26 and was followed by co captain Matt Dunlap and freshman Conor Welch.

Full results will be posted soon.

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NEWS (6/21/06)

Summer Excitement....

One month down, three to go for the Bates harriers. The summer kicked off with a graduation party in Cheshire, CT for a Matthew J. Biggart. CJ, Ryan, Watson, and Percy made the trip (rather the former 3 made the trip while Percy just drove 10 minutes from his house). Some whiffleball was played, some burgers were enjoyed, and it was great to see the guys, even though it had just been a week since we left Bates.

Actually, let's not overlook T Unit McCall's night in Connecticut when he visited Percy, Krause, and Biggart. Most importantly, Tim got a chance to walk around New Haven, see Yale, and rid himself of his self proclaimed hatred for New Haven after having been stuck in a train jam for 3 hours there once. The next morning Tim got onto the train and made his way up to Bates where he is staying for the summer doing research for the history department on the Jewish (no, that was no typo) population in Lewiston/Auburn.

And that's that for now. July will bring a trip to Coach's house for a whiffleball tournament. For others it will bring a hiking trip to Mount Katahdin. But amidst the fun and games, one thing is sure: the Bates runners are out there every day logging in the miles, the strides, the hills and getting ready for some serious fun this fall.

Until next time....               

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