LEWISTON, MAINE - Kicking off what promises to be a memorable season, the mens' varsity team bested the alumni for the first time in three years at the Alumni Race on Saturday. Infused with a host of talented new first years supplementing one of the strongest returning veteran lineups in years, Bates varsity claimed a 28-31 victory over the alumns. The team was led by senior captain Doug Brecher, who finished second to Steve Monsulick '06, who claimed his first ever Alumin Race victory. Following Brecher was junior co-captain Devin Dilts, who finished 5th behind alumns Joel Anderson and Matt Biggart. In a fantastic display of the limitless potential this year's freshman class brings, first years Andrew Wortham and Ryan Rice claimed the next two places on the team. Rounding out the team's top seven were sophomore Ben Chebot, senior Griff Stabler, and junior Ben Taska.

Coach Fresh was quick to point out that our improvement as a team over last year's Alumni Race was significant. A team consisting of the nine first years would have come close to beating last year's varsity team alone. Many improvements were made by veterans over last year's performances, with three improvements greater than 1:20. The team placed six runners where it had three last year, and a whopping 22 runners where 10 were last year.

If one thing is clear, it is that this team is ready to accomplish great things this year. Next weekend Bates will compete at the second annual Bates-Colby wave race, hosted by Colby in Waterville, Maine.