FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CROSS COUNTRY RUNNERS NAMED FALL'S FIRST BATES ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

LEWISTON, Maine -- For leading their respective teams to victory at the season opening University of Maine-Presque Isle (UMPI) Invitational, junior Katie Parker of Williamstown, Mass., and first-year runner Justin Easter of Jay have been named the first Bates College Athletes of the Week for the 1999-2000 academic year.

Parker, an All-New England performer in 1998, led the Bobcats to the first perfect score in history of the women's cross country program, with Bates harriers capturing the top five spots. Parker's time of 20:52 over five kilometers produced her first collegiate victory. Close behind her in second place was first-year runner Abby Anthony of Jamestown, R.I., who finished in 20:55. Seniors Kate Burakowski of Derry, N.H., and Kate Kenoyer of Whitefield, each running in their first collegiate races after competing for other Bates teams in their previous years, placed third and fourth with times of 22:07 and 22:11, while senior captain Jessica Young of Thetford, Vt., rounded out the Bobcats' scoring, as the Bobcats outdistanced second-place Maine-Farmington, 15-72.

Easter, victorious in the men's race at the UMPI Invitational, was familiar with the eight-kilometer course, having won the last of his three consecutive Maine state Class C championships on the Augusta Civic Center course. Easter's time of 28:28 was 14 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher from Babson College. The Bobcat men, ranked 23rd in the nation in the preseason College Cross Country Coaches Association poll, did not send their top runners to the UMPI meet, but their first-year contingent was strong enough to take six of the top 15 spots. Justin Bates of Abbott and Jesse Tisch of Bedford, N.Y., placed third and fourth, running 29:03 and 29:09, respectively. Malcolm Gray of Bronxville, N.Y., took seventh overall in 29:35 and Eric Knackmuhs of Wyckoff, N.J., rounded out the scoring, taking 14th place, just ahead of senior Matt Payson of Union who was returning from a two-year absence from the team.