BOSTON, MA - The Bates College men's cross country team placed an impressive fifth place at the 41st running of the Codfish Bowl Invitational held at Franklin Park, in Boston, Massachussetts. The team was led by junior co-captian Devin Dilts, who placed 7th individually in a time of 25:40. It was a lifetime PR for Dilts. Following Dilts was co-captain Doug Brecher, who placed 16th overall in 26:06. Junior Tom Esponette was third for Bates, running 26:43 to place 31st. First year Ryan Rice ran an impressive PR of 26:48, good for 34th. After Rice was Sean Colligan (26:53) and fellow first year Eric Kimball (26:58), placing 38th and 41st respectively. Rounding out the top seven was yet another first year, Graham Pearsall, who ran a big PR of 27:11 to finish in 53rd place.

Other notable performances came from first year Jamie Epstein who ran a time of 27:40 for a big PR as well. Sophomore Sam Wood ran a huge PR, demolishing his time from last year's New England meet by running 27:58, breaking the 28 minute barrier for the first time in his carrier. Following Wood in similar fashion was junior Ben Taska, who ran a time of 28:03, also a significant improvement from last year. Junior Kevin McDonald proved once again to be one of the most versatile athletes on the team, running a 29:02 to set a new PR.

Bates placed 5th out of 18 teams with a score of 109. Bates was 7 points behind 4th place finisher MIT, a perenial New England power house. The first three teams (Boston Greater TC, Boston Athletic, and Bentley College) were either non-collegiate running clubs, or in Bentley's case, Division II running programs.

The men will look to improve their performances from this weekend at the Open New England meet in two weeks, also held at Franklin Park. They will have this weekend off for parent's weekend.

Click here for full results.