BRUNSWICK, Maine -- No less than six Bobcats earned All-Region honors for a top-35 finish, as No. 30 nationally ranked Bates College placed second out of 33 teams Saturday at the 2022 NCAA Division III East Regional Championships, hosted on the campus of Bowdoin College.

NCAA Division III restructured its regions last season, creating a new East Region comprising schools in Eastern New England. The first-place team in each of 10 NCAA Regionals held on Saturday earned an automatic berth in next Saturday's NCAA Division III Championships. The 32-team field will be announced Sunday afternoon as Bates seeks its 11th team bid to nationals and its fourth in a row.

The All-Region trio of senior Ryan Smith (Westport, Conn.), junior captain Ned Farrington (Cohasset, Mass.), and senior captain Eli Boesch Dining (Conord, N.H.) finished 11th-13th, respectively, in the final standings. Smith completed the 8K course in 25:39.0. Farrington crossed the line on the heels of his teammate at 25:39.3 while Boesch Dining earned a time of 25:39.3.

Junior Victor Kering (Eldoret, Kenya) (15th, 25:48.1), sophomore Krishna Kakani (Monroe, N.J.) (21st, 26:08.4), and senior Sam Kartsonis (Narberth, Pa.) (26th, 26:20.9) also achieved All-Region status for the garnet and white. Sophomore Andrew Mottur (Rumford, R.I.) (36th, 26:43.0) closed out the scoring for the Bobcats.

Bates scored 72 points on the day. No. 2 MIT, with 21 points, took first place and the automatic NCAA bid.  No. 17 Colby placed third (82), led by overall winner Tyler Morris (24:55.6). No. 31 Tufts (116) and host-Bowdoin (166) closed out the top-5.