WATERVILLE, Maine -- Five different Bobcats won individual state titles and the Bates men's indoor track and field team rolled to its third consecutive first-place finish at the Maine State Meet Saturday afternoon.
After tying Bowdoin for first two years ago, the Bobcats left no doubt this time, winning by 60 points over the second-place Polar Bears. Bates tallied 240.5 points, Bowdoin finished with 180.5 points and host Colby took third with 117.5 points.
First-year
Truman Williams (Montclair, N.J.) won the state title in the 400 meters, racing to the finish in 50.52 seconds. Williams also scored points in the 200 meters with a second-place finish time of 23.01, and the John Corcoran 4x400 relay, as Bates took second in 3:31.98.
Senior
John Mieszczanski (Chelmsford, Mass.) and first-year
Cam Stathos (Wellesley, Mass.) finished 1-2 in the 1000 meters, with Mieszczanski winning in 2:34.65 and Stathos coming in second in
2:34.66, only a hundredth of a second behind his teammate.
The Bobcats dominated the 5000 meters, taking the top four spots. Junior
Ryan Smith (Westport, Conn.) won the state title in 15:25.42. Senior
Jackson Donahue (Princeton, N.J.) finished second in 15:25.44, sophomore
Victor Kering (Eldoret, Kenya) took third 15:40.00 and senior
Max Bartley (Presque Isle, Maine) landed in fourth place with a time of 15:49.86.
Sophomore
Ned Farrington (Cohasset, Mass.) took second in the 3000 meters with a time of 8:38.56. Smith finished third in the 3K in 8:42.09.
Per usual, Bates racked up points in the throws, with sophomore
Jacob Goff (Scarborough, Maine) winning the Al Nicholson Shot Put thanks to a personal record throw of 50-4.75. Junior
Liam Byrne (Ridgefield, Conn.) took second with a top distance of 49-2.5 and senior
John Everett (Winchester, Mass.) completed the 1-2-3 finish with a top throw of 43-6.5.
Everett won the state title in the Peter Doran Weight Throw (54-10.25), Byrne took second (52-10.25) and Goff finished third (52-7.25).
The Bobcats scored points in every event on Saturday except the long jump and the triple jump.
Bates' state title is its 17th in the meet's 53-year history, including seven of the past nine.
