Volume CXXXIII, Number 4 September 28, 2001 f

Men's x-c dominates NYU Invitational
ALEX MOORE
Staff Writer

The Bowdoin Men's Cross Country Team notched its first victory last Saturday at the NYU Cross Country Invitational. The Polar Bears finished first out of 37 teams in the race, held at New York City's Van Cortland Park.

The Polar Bears arrived in the Bronx last Saturday to find that the cool, crisp air of Maine had been replaced by the muggy and warmer troposphere of New York. "We really showed the confidence and experience of our veteran team," captain Rich Sherman '02 said. "We controlled the race from the gun, ran in small packs, and worked together to run some great times-on a difficult course and on a muggy day."

Junior Pat Vardaro finished first in the Polar Bear pack, placing third overall in the race and with a time of 26:29. Captain Steve Allison '01 finished right behind him; a time of 26:32 being good for fourth place.

Juniors Todd Forsgren, Scott Barbuto, Jeff Rubens, and Conor O'Brien placed sixth, eighth, 13th, and 27th, respectively. Bowdoin's seventh runner was sophomore Scott Herrick, coming in at 36th place.

Dan Gulotta '03, Taylor Washburn '04, Ben Peisch '05, Alex Moore '03, Sherman, and Kevin Doyle '04 rounded out the speedy Bowdoin pack.
The Bears were ranked sixth in the latest NCAA Division III poll.

Coach Peter Slovenski said that he considered the victory an excellent start to a memorable season of running. "Racing is an important part of the training progression. I think the team raced well at NYU, but also learned a lot that will make us better racers in the championships."

According to Slovenski, there is one major obstacle in front of his team. "The most important thing for us this season will be to stay healthy," he said. "As long as we can do that, this will be a very powerful Bowdoin team to have at the starting line.

"We're still trying to keep our workouts long and not too fast. We're moving from hilly to flatter terrain for the workouts, but we won't speed things up till the middle of October," he continued.

The Bowdoin men host Wesleyan tomorrow on their home course. If you'd like to see one of the best DIII cross country teams in action, head down to Pickard Field for the 11:00 A.M. race. "Our home course is a great course for spectators," Slovenski said. "If anyone hasn't seen a cross country race before, this would be a great place to start watching."