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Volume CXXXIII, Number 10 |
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Men's x-c heads to nationals
ALEX MOORE
STAFF WRITER
The Bowdoin Men's Cross-Country Team finished second out of 35 teams
in the New England Division III Championship at Westfield State last Saturday.
The top five teams-Keene State, Bowdoin, MIT, Tufts, and Williams--will
run in the NCAA DIII Nationals tomorrow, held in Rock Island, Illinois.
Keene State, the runner-up at last year's national championship, won
the New England race with a total 54 points. Bowdoin (84 points) matched
their 1991 second-place NE finish. MIT, Tufts, and Williams, the other
three national qualifiers, tallied 106, 113, and 128 points, respectively.
Trinity, Bates, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Colby, and Amherst rounded
out the top ten.
The Bowdoin men demonstrated a mastery of the Westfield State course
en route to their second place finish. Bowdoin's first runner, co-captain
Steve Allison '01, finished in eighth place with a time of 25:17.
He was followed by co-captain Todd Forsgren '03, who took tenth place
with 25:22. Fellow junior Pat Vardaro finished 14th overall, and clocked
a time of 25:33.
Juniors Jeff Rubens (22nd) and Scott Barbuto (29th) both broke the 26:00
minute mark, and solidified Bowdoin's NCAA Championship berth. Scott Herrick
'04 finished in 41st place, while seventh-man Conor O'Brien took the 64th
spot.
"Jeff Rubens and Scott Barbuto had exceptional races. You can tell
we had a great day, because our fourth and fifth runners made the All-New
England team," head coach Peter Slovenski said. "We are one
of the top-ranked teams in the nation because Jeff and Scott have been
all-star caliber runners for us this season."
Barbuto ran a particularly exceptional, come-from-behind race. He was
in 60th place at the one-mile mark, moved up to 50th after two miles,
and, three miles later, finished in 29th place.
Forsgren indicated that the men's team was pleased with its performance,
but hasn't yet reached its peak potential. "Second place in New England
is certainly something the team should be very proud of," he said.
"A lot of the guys had great races, with five of us gaining All-New
England honors. We've been looking forward to nationals all year, and
I think our best race is yet to come."
Slovenski seemed to share Forsgren's view. "We had an excellent
race at regionals, but we have been pointing to the national race all
season," he said. "We'll run even better this weekend. We've
been preparing for nationals all summer and fall."
The seven-man squad, which departed for Illinois on Thursday, looks to
set the Bowdoin College record for the highest finish by any sports team
in a NCAA Championship. The women's cross country team currently holds
this mark, with their sixth-place finish in the 1994 NCAA Championship.
O'Brien attempted to explain the mystique of nationals. "It's like
a big dance," he said. "You think all that counts is getting
invited. But if it's going to be a night to remember, you had better dress
well and make all the right moves."
The Bowdoin men finished 19th in their last trip to nationals, which
occured in 1995. The 1991 team was ranked eighth in the country, but was
unable to compete nationally, due to NESCAC regulations at the time.
This weekend, the men aren't looking to place highly for mere distinction.
"Our goal is to have a cross-country team at Bowdoin achieve a national
ranking as high as the Bowdoin Dining Service," Slovenski said. "Our
dining service is ranked sixth in the nation. We'll need a terrific race
to match that.
"We ran close to Keene State--last year's NCAA runner-up--this past
weekend," he continued. "If we can close the gap and get a little
closer to Keene, we'll end up as one of the top five teams in the race."