By CAM DONALDSON
Sports Editor
 

Think it was tough standing in the rain last weekend? Try running in it. Men's Cross Country did just that at the State of Maine Championships, plodding through puddles and quagmires sans galoshes en route to a 1stplace finish in the 11-team competition. For the third straight year, a Bates runner won in the individual competition, but this time the `Cats (27 points) were dominant at the team level as well, beating out 2nd place Bowdoin (64 points) and 3rd place Colby (67 points) by a safe margin. Mike Danahy '00 (1st) captured the state crown from defending champ Matt Twiest (3rd), who finished 29 seconds after his frontrunning teammate. Bates owned the Nos. 8-11 holes, with Steve Dutton '00, Brendan Hahesy '00, Steve Mague '01 and John McGrath '00 finishing within 31 seconds of each other to provide most of the punch the `Cats would need to come out on top...Women's Cross Country did not adapt so well to the conditions at the state championships last weekend, coming in 4th/11. After finishing behind Colby (46 points), Bowdoin (47 points) and USM (63 points), Bates (90 points) was not exactly singin' in the rain. However, these results overshadowed excellent individual efforts from Adelia Myrick '99 (4th) and Kate Parker '01 (7th), who had the best finish of her career. Myrick has now garnered All-Maine honors for all four of her years at Bates...Men's Tennis finished the fall season in front of their home town fans last weekend at the Bates Invitational. Dmitri Kudrjavtsev '01 plowed through three opponents from Bowdoin and one from Connecticut College to bring home his second career tournament title. After going to tiebreakers in the quarter- and semifinals, Kudrjavtsev established his top form in the finals, schooling Bowdoin's Adam Schwartz in straight sets (6-0, 6-1). Kudrjavtsev's understudy, Milko Todorov '01, made an appearance in the B bracket semifinals, where he ultimately bowed to Hendrick Day of Middlebury (7-6, 6-2)...Field Hockey (3-5) picked up their second straight shutout at Simmons on Tuesday as they outshot the Sharks by an 18-5 margin and outscored them 2-0. Both goals came courtesy of the Class of 2002, with Amanda Slocum getting on the board late in the first half and Kara Concesion providing the insurance. New England College takes on the Bobcats' high-scoring rookies and cherrypicking goaltenders this Saturday at 1:00...Women's Volleyball (13-7) finished in a second-place deadlock with Colby (6-11) and Coast Guard (814) after blanking the White Mules for the second time this season and losing to Eastern Connecticut State University (24-4) and Coast Guard at the ECSU Invitational last weekend. The match against Coast Guard was a real stomach churner, as Bates won the third game by a decisive 15-2 score to take a 2-1 lead, but then went on to drop the next two games. Amanda Colby '00 had a successful homecoming, establishing a towering presence in the mid-court and putting on an All-Tournament performance in front of friends and family in Willimantic, Connecticut. If you're looking for a little spike-cranking action before heading home for break, you can catch the V-ballers at 7:00 on Tuesday as they meet St. Joseph's.