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Volume CXXXIII, Number 6 |
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Runners take third consecutive state title
ALLIE YANIKOSKI
STAFF WRITER
As the bus pulled into the Twin Brook Recreation Center in Cumberland, Maine on October 4, Coach Peter Slovenski urged his teams to race with a "killer instinct." Knowing that the team championship for the Maine State title would come down to which athletes exhibited the most tenacity, Coach Slovenski set his runners loose and waited.
Led by Audra Caler '05, the women in black successfully defended their third consecutive team and individual championship; however, the victory was as narrow as Coach Slovenski predicted.
Although seven teams competed at the State meet, the race was primarily between the Bowdoin/Bates/Colby trio, who collectively claimed the top 15 places. Bowdoin won by six points and second-place Bates beat Colby by seven. As Coach Slovenski warned his athletes, the race came down to the final mile in which bravery and determination often supercede talent.
Senior co-captain Kala Hardacker played a crucial role in Bowdoin's team victory. "When I came out of the woods [with just over half a mile left to go], I heard Coach yell that I had to get two girls one from Colby and one from Bates because we were tied for the championship. I was tired, but that made me dig down and want to pass those girls."
Hardacker quickly passed Colby's Hillary Easter; however, Jessie Gagne-Hall from Bates gave Kala a fight.
"The last half mile I battled with her, and I just knew that it would come down to who had the best kick," said Hardacker. "At the end I practically closed my eyes and ran as fast as I could. When I was getting really tired and I didn't know if I could pass a girl, I was thinking that all of my teammates were doing the exact same thing, whether they were ahead or behind me. We were all working together toward the team score."
Hardacker out-sprinted her Bates competitor by three seconds, a significant margin in a cross country race. "Kala really held her ground in the last 300 meters," says Jill Schweitzer '06. "She knew that she had to beat those girls to clench the win."
Hardacker finished fourth for Bowdoin and 11th overall with 19:53.2. "Kala had the race of the day," said Caler. "She really stepped it up for us, and without her effort there's no way we would have won against Bates."
Caler herself was also a crucial factor in defeating Bates, winning the race in 19:05.7. In her three cross country seasons at Bowdoin, Caler has established herself as the undefeated Maine State meet champion, improving her winning time each year. "In my three years at Bowdoin, we've won the State meet [each] year, but I think that this team is by far the strongest," said Caler.
Four seconds behind Caler was Neoma Palmer '07 who out-kicked Colby powerhouses Jess Minty and Karina Johnson, as well as the top runner from Bates, Julie Dutton, to finish in second place in 19:09.9. Palmer was the youngest female competitor to earn All-State honors, which are awarded to the top seven overall finishers.
In a smoking time of 19:31.4, Ellen Beth '05 claimed sixth place. Between Caler, Palmer, and Beth, Bowdoin dominated the All-State awards. Bates and Colby, the second- and third-place team finishers, each had two All-State runners.
The most successful cross-country teams have a tight, cohesive pack of top five runners, and Bowdoin fits that profile. Bowdoin's top five runners were separated by intervals of four, six, twenty-two, and eleven seconds, from Audra to Kristen Brownell '07, Bowdoin's fifth runner and final athlete to contribute to the team score. Brownell finished fourteenth in 20:04, fifteen seconds ahead of the sixth runner for Bates.
After Brownell, Livy Lewis '07 completed her second cross country race in 20:28, in 18th place overall, and as Bowdoin's sixth runner. "Livy is doing amazing," said Caler. "She has never run cross country before this season, and she is already moving into the top seven."
Katie Landry '05 followed Livy, completing the 5k race in 20:59, the 26th finisher, and Bowdoin's seventh runner. In her second race of the season, Landry ran courageously after lingering effects from an old injury had forced her to ease up on her training for the past few weeks.
Following Katie, Allie Yanikoski '06 finished in 36th place in 21:20. Alix Roy '07 claimed 44th place in 21:43, a mere three spots ahead of Schweitzer, who raced into the chute in 21:51. In her second race of the season, Rio Watanabe '07 rounded out the Bowdoin contingent with a 62nd place finish in 23:43.
"I was extremely happy with our team's performance," said Hardacker. "We accomplished the first of our three major team goals, and the competition from Bates and Colby was much tougher than I expected. Everyone ran a really smart race and stuck to the game plan. Time wise it was a slow day because [Cumberland] is a slow course, but performance-wise I was really impressed."
A week after the State meet, a few women on the opted to travel to Franklin Park in Boston for the Open New England meet where they faced more than 40 teams from Divisions I, II, and III. Two first years, Palmer and Brownell, represented Bowdoin in the Varsity race, while Lewis, Schweitzer, Roy, Yanikoski, and senor co-captain Chelsea Spector competed in the Sub-Varsity race. All the women raced well against the some of the top talent in the nation. Palmer ran a spectacular race placing 19th out of 287 finishers in 18:22.
"I thought the race went really well," said Spector. "There was a lot of tough competition but everyone went out there and gave it everything they had. I just wish the whole team could have been there! I thought Palmer especially had a really great race. I think the team is ready to start moving into the real season now, [and] we're back into the swing of racing."
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