LEWISTON, Maine -- First year head coach Curtis Johnson's men's cross country squad battled through injuries to finish 26th in the country at the NCAA Championships this fall. Now, he turns his attention to track and field, where the Bobcats are healthy but have a lot of new faces. Bates opens its season this Saturday at MIT in a tri-meet against the Engineers and the University of Southern Maine. 

Originally, the Bobcats had a meet scheduled at Brandeis this weekend but it got canceled so they quickly pivoted and found another opportunity to compete. 

"I'm very proud of this team and their resilience throughout the last two years and how we've adjusted time and time again," Johnson said. "We really want to compete as much as we can, but we know that it's hard to predict how many opportunities we'll have due to the pandemic. So we're going to go out there each week and put our best foot forward."

The Bobcats have a trio of captains this year. 

Senior captain Bart Rust (Croton on Hudson, N.Y.) leads the way for Bates. Rust was one of the injured cross country runners in the fall but he is healthy now and expected to once again be one of the team's top runners. In 2020, Rust headed into the NCAA Indoor Championships with a lot of momentum, having qualified at the Tufts Last Chance Meet. The championships were canceled and Rust was named an All-American in the event. 

"The moment Bart walked on campus, he was seen as somebody who had great composure, great leadership, and more importantly, he put the work in to back up every goal he set for him and the team," Johnson said. "So Bart is somebody who on paper is a top performer for us, but also his entire vibe, his energy, everything he brings to the table is somebody who you want as a leader."

Another top performer and senior captain for Bates is Liam Evans (Sauquoit, N.Y.), who placed eighth in the heptathlon with a career-best 4,341 points at the New England Division III Championships in 2020. He didn't get a chance to compete in the decathlon during the abbreviated outdoor season last spring, but Evans did record personal bests in the discus throw (104'7'') and the 200 meter dash (24.35). 

"Liam can handle a lot on his plate and he's been somebody who leads by example, whether it's in the weight room, whether it's on the track or in the classroom," Johnson said. "That's something that obviously is very important at Bates. I work with Liam day in and day out, so I get to see his work ethic and his strengths and his weaknesses and knowing him, he's somebody who's not afraid to learn." 

Senior captain Charlie Hansen (Washington, D.C.) is a pole vaulter for Bates who is coming off a strong outdoor season that saw him set a PR at the Tufts Invitational (13' 9.25"). He'll be working with a dedicated vaults coach this year, new hire Dean Dumas.

"The pandemic honestly was confirmation of Charlie's leadership," Johnson said. "He's the person that shows up, gets everybody amped up, checks in and sees how everyone is doing and also is very good at communicating and being that liaison between coach and team. So he's a key person to have as a captain. He's also somebody who proved that even when competition was limited, he only needed one opportunity to show that he could be at his best."

Returnees who stand out for Bates include Liam Evans' twin brother senior Garrett Evans (Sauquoit, N.Y.), a tough halfback on the football team and a very good sprinter for the Bobcats, who is also quite versatile.

"My favorite thing about our current team is that we have guys who are upperclassmen like Garrett who don't really have a cap on which sprint event he can succeed in," Johnson said. "But that's just one example of the range we're trying to produce with our sprinters. We don't want a one trick pony."

The men's team has quite the group of sprinters for Johnson to work with. Junior walk-on Derek Shen (Bellevue, Wash.), junior Colby Stakun-Pickering (Wellesley, Mass.), sophomore Walter Joachim-Delpoio (Barrington, R.I.) and sophomore Sidney Toga (Wayland, Mass.) may be new names to the casual Bates fan, but Johnson expects them to have big impacts this year.

Sprinters Aydan Gedeon-Hope (Boston), Kevin O'Connor (Milford, Mass.), Joseph Vann (Roxbury, Mass.) and Truman Williams (Montclair, N.J.) are part of a first-year class that Johnson says is "amazing" and should have a big impact right away for Bates.

"Given the opportunity to have a full season, we want to be recognized as one of the best programs in New England again," Johnson said. "That doesn't have to happen the same way it has in the past. You know, we can do it a different way, we can see more from the sprints and jumps. We can see more individuals versus relays and things like that. So as we look to this season, we want to show that every opportunity matters to us." 

The Bates middle-distance runners are also very strong, as evidenced by the team's success during the cross country season. Senior John Mieszczanski (Chelmsford, Mass.) competed at nationals for the cross country team this fall and the last time Bates had an indoor season he finished fourth in New England in the 1,000 meter run and helped Bates place second in the distance medley relay. Senior Jackson Donahue (Princeton, N.J.) led Bates in every cross country race this season and should have a solid impact for the track and field team as well. Meanwhile, junior Ryan Smith (Westport, Conn.) came on really strong at the end of the cross country season, placing second on the team at nationals. 

Of course, you can't talk about Bates track and field without talking about the throwers. Bates has a new throws coach this year in Danny Colina and he has a strong group of four to work with, each of whom brings a lot of potential to the table. 

Junior Liam Byrne (Ridgefield, Conn.) earned three All-NESCAC honors during the abbreviated outdoor season last spring and is Bates' most accomplished returnee among the throwers. However, Johnson thinks that senior John Everett (Winchester, Mass.) is on the verge of a breakout campaign. Two young up-and-comers Johnson says fans should keep an eye on are sophomores Jacob Goff (Scarborough, Maine) and James Guinee (Peabody, Mass.).

"We've got a full throws crew that's ready to go," Johnson said. "Obviously coach Colina is new with us this year and he's been on the money with this crew. They put a lot of time and energy into what they've been doing over the fall. We are really excited about our throws program."

The Bates men and women are hosting the Bates Invitational on Jan. 21 and 22 but per NESCAC policy only those in the college's testing protocol may attend. The meet will be streamed on the Northeast Sports Network. The first chance for folks to visit campus and check out the Bobcats is during the outdoor season, when Bates will host a quad meet on April 2 and the Maine State Meet on April 23. Those meets will also be streamed on NSN.