Bates senior two-time All-American James LePage was at the center of two remarkable races run by the Bobcats on Saturday at the all-divisions Open New Englands at Stonehill College.
With the two-time All-American LePage (Cumberland, Maine) running the fourth and fastest leg, Bates shattered by more than 10 seconds the team 4x800 relay record it had broken just a week beforehand, and trimmed 7.05 seconds off of the meet record as well.
Senior Nick Barron (Kirkwood, Mo.), sophomore John Stansel (Newburyport, Mass.), junior Mark McCauley (Cumberland, Maine) and LePage finished the 4x800 in a scorching 7:30.45, more than four seconds ahead of runner-up Stonehill. The former meet record of 7:37.50 was set by Boston College in 2005. Bates' former team record of 7:41.10, was set by the same four Bobcats at the New England Division III Championships one week earlier.
LePage and McCauley also moved into second and third place, respectively, on Bates' all-time performance list in the 800 meters, as LePage finished fourth overall in a personal-record 1:50.63 and McCauley was fifth in a personal-record 1:50.90. Barron also ran a career-best 1:52.99, good for 12th place. Only Bill Tyler's 1:50.02 time from 1980 is faster in Bates history; the previous second-place time was the 1:51.74 run by Christopher Taylor in 1977.
LePage and teammates will compete at the ECAC Division III Championships this Thursday and Friday at Springfield College, the final meet before the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships May 23-25.
