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"The past couple of weeks have been very exciting for the team," said Scott Cooper '05. ‑"Not only have they produced some remarkable times and distances, but we have really forged a close-knit connection between all our teammates. The team has really come together for full-fledged support of each other in their competitions."
The best 5000 meter runner in New England is Bates' own Joel Anderson '05, who won the event at BU in a time of 14:34.74. The senior captain currently ranks fifth in the nation in that event and holds the second fastest time in Bates history.
In addition, the rest of the distance team performed very well at Open New England's, as the 4x800 team of Mike Downing '05, Patrick Wales-Dinan '05, Nic Hansen '05 and Sam Murphy '07 finished in under eight minutes.
The other major victories of the past several weeks came from senior captains Cooper and Joe Northrup at Tufts. Cooper was crowned the New England Division III champion in the 35-lb weight throw, knocking off MIT's Uzoma Orji, who was number one in the country in that event. Cooper's throw was recorded at 59 feet, 2.25 inches, while Orji finished at 58 feet, 4 inches, placing him at third in the country heading into nationals.
Northrup took home the victory in the pentathlon, breaking his own school record with 3,381 points. Bates finished third at Division III New England's with 77 points, behind Williams (123) and Tufts (108.5). In addition, John Miley had a lifetime best in the pentathlon becoming the number 2 performer on the Bates All-Time list, second to All-American Northrup.
"A top-three performance was one of our goals all season, so we were very pleased," said Anderson.
The team's goal the past few weeks has been to secure national qualifiers and set themselves up for nationals in the best way that they can, resting people at key times and running others in preparation for nationals. The 4x400 meter relay team did not race at BU.
Bates will send seven athletes to Nationals in Illinois on Wednesday, including Cooper and Gauthier in the weight throw, Krauss, Colony, Thomas and Northrup in the 4x400; and Anderson in the 5000.
"All of the athletes going to Nationals are hoping to continue the trend and finish off an excellent season," said Anderson.
"Our biggest goals are to have more people become All-Americans and to finish high in the team rankings," added Cooper.