Volume CXXXIII, Number 5 October 12, 2001 f

Women's x-c snags state title, looks to Open New Englands
KRISTEN DUMMER
STAFF WRITER

The Bowdoin Women's Cross Country Team has had a successful week, taking a home win from visiting Wesleyan and capturing the state championship title.

An unidentified female runner passes a competitor from Bates on the Polar Bears' home course last weekend. (Colin LeCroy, Bowdoin Orient)

The Bears, despite having several varsity women injured or ill when they faced Wesleyan on Sept. 29th, managed to take three of the top four spots and finished with a team time 15 seconds faster than the Cardinals.

Following up the Wesleyan victory, the Bowdoin women ran away with the title at the 32nd Annual Maine State Collegiate Cross Country Championship on Oct. 6th. The Bears beat defending champion Colby College, along with seven other Maine schools.

According to senior captain Kate Waller, first year Audra Caler continued to perform well. "In her third cross country race ever, Audra became the Maine state champ," Waller said. Caler finished with a time of 19:11.10, almost 15 seconds ahead of the second-place runner from UMaine-Farmington.

Junior Libby Barney and first years Ellen Beth and Kate Landry also delivered strong performances, finishing sixth, seventh, and fourth, respectively.

Beth returned from an ankle injury for the championships. "Ellen had a spectacular race," said head coach Peter Slovenski. "She was in 18th place after one mile, and passed 11 runners to finish seventh."

The Bears finished 28 points ahead of the runner-up White Mules. Bowdoin's eight state titles tie with the University of Maine for the most women's championships.

Slovenski said that he has faith in the team's prospects for upcoming races. "We are showing a lot of speed in the #5, 6, 7 positions," he said. "Bre McKenna, Kate Waller, and Grace Cho are all running very well, and give us excellent depth in championship races."

Junior McKenna, first year Cho, and Waller finished tenth, 18th, and 13th, respectively.

These state champs head to Open New Englands today, and will compete at the NESCAC championships on October 27. "Open NE's will be a challenging meet; the course is fast and the competition is high," said sophomore Kala Hardacker. "PRs will be set by some women, for sure.

"Our focus right now is on the NESCAC meet at the end of the month, which will be held here at Bowdoin," she continued.

Although all run individually, the Bowdoin women's team is dedicated to helping each other. "We work well together as a pack, so each time a runner in the front moves up, she carries the back along with her," Waller said.

"There is a ton of fire and enthusiasm from first years and upperclassmen alike," Hardacker said. "We are seriously pumped to keep improving each week and strengthening our stats as the season progresses!"

The Bowdoin women travel to Franklin Park today for the Open New England meet, and will run on their home course again in two weeks when they host the NESCAC championship meet at noon.