By EVAN JARASHOW
Staff Writer
 

The team is clearly paced by co-captain Justin Freeman '98. He had a fantastic season in 1996, and has stepped it up even more this year. He won the opening 5-mile race of the year with a time of 24:55 at the annual Bates alumni meet. Freeman has two wins to his name already this season, and he will undoubtedly be trying for his third this weekend at the Codfish Bowl in Boston, MA. According to head coach Al Fereshetian, "Justin is running exactly the way we hoped he would, and he should respond later in the season when we start to add some speed to the workouts."

The reality of a team is that it takes more than one runner to win a meet. Although Freeman has dominated the competition, the rest of the team is noticeably behind. In the first few races the time gap from 1-5 (the scoring members of a team) hovered at around two minutes. Although that gap has been shrinking daily, in order for the team to compete at a higher level it must continue to decrease. The pack is led by Mike Danahy '00, and the up-and-coming Matt Twiest '00. Twiest was Bates' lead man last year, and was the number one freshman at the NCAA Division III championships, where he finished 43rd overall. Danahy has an impressive track record too, as he was the third runner for Bates last season. Both men will help guide the pack toward Freeman in the front. This season's pack includes Steve Dutton '00, Brendan Hahesy '00, Chris Lupo '01, Steve Mague '01, and John McGrath '00.

The Bobcats have a promising future given the youth of the team, but coach Fereshetian also wants to see growth, improvement, and competition this season. The goal is to have each runner improve himself, and thereby improve the team. Many other runners have come into the season in great shape with the hope of impacting the team. These runners are led by co-captain John Cullinan '99. It is evident that Cullinan put in a great summer, and it has shown in the results as he ran 30:19 on a very hilly and challenging course last weekend at Tufts University to place 9th overall for the Bobcats. Although Bates lost to both Tufts (33) and M.I.T. (44) (Bates, 55), the experience was positive. It gave the team a sense of what the competition will be like this season. The weather also could have been much more helpful. Since the team is used to training in the seasonal Maine climate, the high humidity and temperatures in the low 80's did not help. Coach Fereshetian does not like to dwell on the down moments of a season, such as last week's meet, and has set the goals quite high for the season. He wishes to focus on these goals and strive for them.

This season's success will be determined largely by the runners themselves. This year's team has set a precedent for the kind of attitude that a Bates runner must possess. The team is determined to win, and all are making their respective efforts to push themselves to that level. This weekend the harriers will travel again to Boston to defend their title at the Codfish Bowl; hopefully this result will be better than the last.