John Rex had career-bests in both the shot put and weight throw, winning the former and placing second in the latter, to lead the Bates men's track and field team to a sixth-place finish at the New England Division III Indoor Championships on Feb. 29, 2020. (File photo by Theophil Syslo/Bates College)

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Junior captain John Rex posted career-best efforts in both the shot put and the weight throw, winning the former and placing second in the latter, to lead the Bates men's track and field team to a sixth-place finish at the New England Division III Indoor Championships at Springfield College on Saturday.

Bates scored 49 points over two days, including Friday night's second-place finish in the distance medley relay and senior Justin Levine's (Boca Raton, Fla.) third place in the 5,000 meters. WPI edged Bates by two points for fifth place, while Springfield took seventh with 46 points. MIT won the meet going away with 171 points.

Rex (Andover, Mass.) had a career-best effort of 15.56 meters (51'0.75") on his third attempt in the shot put, well beyond his previous best of 49'7.25".

Rex finished second only to Coast Guard senior Ben Zarlengo (63'1.25") to place second in the weight throw with another big PR, heaving the weight 62'6.5" on his sixth and final effort. Rex moved up from ninth place to on Bates' all-time performance list in the event into seventh place, a half-inch ahead of former teammate Adedire Fakorede '18. The effort moved Rex into sixth place nationally in Division III.

Senior captain Brendan Donahue (Wolfeboro Falls, N.H.) also provided a big Bates highlight, scoring a career-high 4,861 points to place third in the heptathlon. Donahue notched a career-best high jump of 6'3.5" and a career-best 1,000-meter run (3:01.40), and led the field in the pole vault (13'7.25"). Donahue's score leapfrogged him over David Hardison '13 and onto second place on Bates' all-time performance list in the event, behind only Eric Wainman's '15 record 5,201 points. Donahue moved into 10th place in the national rankings in the heptathlon.

Other standout performances by the Bobcats included:

• Sophomore John Mieszczanski (Chelmsford, Mass.) took fourth place in the 1,000 meters (2:31.70).
• Sophomore Bart Rust (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.) placed fourth in the 3,000 meters (8:35.91).
• Sophomore Liam Evans (Sauquoit, N.Y.) scored a career-high 4,341 points in the heptathlon to claim eighth place. Evans leapfrogged Blake Downey '16 into fourth place on Bates' all-time scoring list in the event (which replaced the pentathlon in 2012). Evans had career-best marks in the pole vault (13'3.5"), high jump (5'6") and 1,000 meters (2:50.56).
• First-year Evan Koch (Brattleboro, Vt.) scored 4,126 points in the heptathlon to finish 11th and move into sixth place on Bates' all-time performance list in the event.

Bates team members will compete next Saturday, March 7 at the Tufts Final Qualifying Meet, followed by the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships March 13-14 in Winston-Salem, N.C.