Volume CXXXIII, Number 15 February 8, 2002 f

Men's track beats USCGA, Colby, and USM
TAYLOR WASHBURN
STAFF WRITER

Tim Mathien '04 competes in the high jump. (Karsten Moran, Bowdoin Orient)

Movies: one (2 MB) (Quicktime 5 required)

With less than a lap remaining in the 1,500 meter run, Coast Guard's Matt Dowthit had a solid lead. Trailed for most of the race by a thick pack that included some of Maine's best distance runners, Dowthit appeared poised to earn a convincing victory. Suddenly, as the competitors entered the back straight, Bowdoin's Jeff Rubens '03 broke away from the peleton, catching the Coast Guard runner at the turn. Even quicker was USM senior Darrel Whitney, who blew by both runners on the outside with less than 100 meters remaining in the race.

But in the final stretch it was all Rubens. The Bowdoin junior surged ahead at the last instant, leaning at the tape to defeat Dowthit (4:00.56) by several hundredths of a second and Whitney (4:00.75) by less than two tenths. Teammates Pat Vardaro' 03 (4:02), Dave Wall '02 (4:06), Scott Barbuto '03 (4:06) and Scott Herrick (4:07) followed Rubens across the line as the Bowdoin faithful screamed in approval. Rubens' performance helped galvanize the Bears, who defeated a strong U.S. Coast Guard Academy squad and smaller teams from Colby College and the University of Southern Maine.

In the sprinting events, Bowdoin was led by sophomores Brian Laurits and Phil Webster. Laurits zipped to victory in the 200-meter dash with a 22.76 clocking while Webster outdistanced his opponents in the 400 meters with a great time of 50.99 seconds. Both runners also helped to contribute to the Polar Bears' dramatic 4 x 400-meter relay victory which was capped off by Webster catching fire in the final lap en route to an extremely tight win over Coast Guard's four best quarter milers.

In the middle distances, victories by sophomore Steve Franklin (600-meters, 1:28) and junior Byron Boots (800-meters, 1:56) and a strong three-four-five finish in the 1000 meter run by seniors Dave Wall, Matt Mellen and Mike Pesa-Fallon helped give Bowdoin a solid lead. This early advantage was cemented by the performance of 5,000-meter runners Dan Gulotta '03, Conor O'Brien '03 and Pat Hughes '05, who swept the top three spots and completed the 3.1 mile race in times of 15:37, 15:45 and 15:50, respectively.

On the field, the Bears were lead by star sophomore James Wilkins, who high-jumped a phenomenal 6'10" as he became the first Bowdoin athlete to automatically qualify for the NCAA championship meet this winter. In addition to Wilkins' easy victory, Bowdoin also benefited from second place finishes from freshman Jon Todd (pole vault, 13') and sophomore Tim Mathien (triple jump, 41') and a three-four finish in the shot put by sophomore Chris Wagner and junior Jamie Salsich.